The Story of Superman
by waitingtofly
Summary: A different take on how I think the story of Lois and Clark should've started for the series. Some dialogue taken from the series.


45

"Superman"

"We have to send him, Lara, we have no other choice. If we don't he'll be destroyed with the rest of us and this damn planet!" explained a frustrated Jor-El to his beautiful dark haired wife Lara.

It was the pre-dawning of another day for the planet Krypton, unbeknownst to the rest of the Kryptonians that dwelled on that planet it would be their last day.

Lara, in her long red silk robe paced her husband's experimental room upset. In her lovingly devoted arms she held the most precious thing on Krypton to her. Her only child, Kal-El, their son. "No, I won't send him. Jor-El, we can't! How do we know he'll be safe on this planet Earth? How do we know he won't be dissected and not cared properly for by the right people? The humans are so ancient in their technology compared to us. He'll be treated like a freak because of his powers he'll have due to their golden sun!"  
Jor-El placed a comforting hand on his wife's shoulder. "Trust in the people of Earth, Lara, and trust in me. I have found a good family on this Earth that will take care of him." he tried to take their baby from her arms to place him in the spaceship he had made especially for him.

However, Lara held on tightly to her son and jerked away from her husband. "No! He'll be alone. He won't remember us! He won't remember…." her voice choked and cracked on the last part of her protest speech. "Remember me."

Tears slowly began to trickle down Lara's face that she couldn't hold back any longer. Her shoulders began to heave and she looked wildly down at her baby, knowing that she'd never see him again if she handed him over to her husband this minute.

Upon seeing the saddened expression over his wife's features, Jor-El produced a glowing silver crystal from his deep black robe pocket. "He'll remember us, my darling. He'll remember and know everything and he'll never be alone."

Lara looked quizzically at the crystal and then remembered that her husband often documented things about their planet and family events. Kal-El would most certainly know about them and his long forgotten planet and he wouldn't be alone.

Uneasily, Lara gently placed her son in her husband's arms. With tears glistening in her eyes, she watched her husband place their only child in the special spacecraft he had made for him.

With a heavy heart, Lara watched Jor-El close the spacecraft hatch after placing the crystal in beside him, and press the green button for lift-off.

A loud roar split the morning air as the tiny spacecraft left the doomed planet Krypton and rocketed towards the planet Earth moments before the explosion.

As it rocketed away, the glowing red sun that warmed the planet Krypton and helped produce life, consumed the planet instead and destroyed it whole.

None of this Kal-El would ever understand why it happened this way as he would grow up. He would only be able to hopefully fulfill his destiny and legacy.

1979\. St. Francis Memorial Hospital. Town of Smallville, Kansas. Early afternoon.

Jonathon Kent sat nervously in the waiting room. His wife at 30, Martha Kent had gone in to visit her doctor for a special reason. Ever since the young couple had fell in love and gotten married when they were 18; they had longed for a child. Now Jonathon knew that Martha was getting older and would be heading towards menopause stage soon. What he wanted to know was why hadn't they been able to have a baby? Martha had been having her regular menstrual cycle as normal, or so she had told him. So, what could possibly be wrong? The doctor had assured him that he would try and solve this by running some tests on Martha. Now the test day had arrived and Jonathon felt like he was going to explode out of his skin from all the tension of waiting.

Hours later, Martha came out of the room looking a little nervous about the results. However, she sat down by her husband in the blue armchair beside him and took hold of his right hand with a confident expression on her face.

Jonathon's hands were shaking.

"I'm sorry to have to tell you this…." the doctor slowly began, "but you seem to be unable to have children."

Jonathon's mind went blank, and all he could think about was the light that glowed above their heads. _Wouldn't be able to have kids…_

Jonathon's world spun in circles, and he felt Martha's grip on his hand tighten. Martha whispered, almost to herself, "Oh, Jonathon…..Jonathon…"

And as the tears began to fall, those words began to float around in Jonathon's mind. Wouldn't be able to have children. Unable to have children.

Jonathon did not know what to say to her to soothe her mind as she sobbed on his bosom. All he could do was whisper to her, "We'll find another way."

The doctor gave them a grim look as they left the hospital. He didn't think that the Kent's would ever have children unless they adopted. And since the Kent's owned a farm he figured they would never be able to afford to adopt. Little did he know, a blessing was about to drop out of the skies for them.

The ride back to the Kent farm was silent, not only was the ride silent but the environment outside seemed to echo their sereneness of what they were feeling. White cumulous clouds dotted the azure sky, and the woods and cornfields were vibrant with crimson and gold leaves.

Jonathon wanted to soothe his wife and tell her that everything would be okay, even though he knew it might not be. He longed for a child. It didn't matter that it'd be a boy or a girl. He just wanted a child to call his own and he knew that his beautiful wife, Martha longed for one too. One to grow up and go to Smallville High school like they did when they were teens and try out for either football or the cheerleading team and lead a happy life. When the time or circumstance calls for that answer though to that situation, what do you say or do? What can you do to smooth complications over?

His thoughts were soon riveted away by his wife's sudden loud horrified cry. "What the hell is that?"

Jonathon's gaze went from the road and traveled to where his wife was gazing. His ice blue eyes soon tracked the trail of a strange glowing green orb that was heading straight towards the ground in front of them. "Oh, my God…" was all he could murmur.

A split second after Jonathon murmured that, the green rock struck a nearby cornfield. The impact sent a wave of energy that sent the poor old pick-up truck spinning in circles until it finally tipped over onto its roof where Jonathon and his wife Martha sat upside down in their seats. Held only securely in place by their black leather seatbelts. Smoke and debris spewed skyward as the green burning object carved a scorch path through the corn.

Darkness descended over Jonathon and Martha Kent as the second green orb hit the town of Smallville. During the time of 1979, some people thought that perhaps the Soviet Union was mad at them again and wanted to cause World War III. However, later on the poor innocent bystanders of Smallville, Kansas would soon find out that this was not the case.

Green orbs the size of small boulders hit nearby farm fields and parts of the town of Smallville. One smashed into the water tower causing water to flood everywhere in the town.

When the green orbs stopped hitting the ground, people that had remained conscious discovered that they were meteor rocks and that it had been a meteor shower that had happened. Some feared that it was an alien invasion. Others thought that NASA should've been more acutely aware and informed them sooner since several lives were taken away from the small town in Kansas.

Meanwhile it was Jonathon and Martha Kent whom were about to receive the megaton life altering punch from this meteor shower yet.

It was a couple of hours later after the meteor shower that Jonathon Kent came to in his old red pick-up truck. His shoulders and legs throbbed with pain, and he felt one crack as he painfully twisted in his seat to look worriedly over at his upside down wife. Anxiously, he looked his beautiful chestnut haired wife over for any obvious injuries for cause of alarm. The only injuries he found that were on her quite noticeably were a couple of black and blue bruises on her right cheek, and a long red bloody scratch on her forehead. The rest of her seemed to be fine, as she started to flutter open her green eyes. "Jonathon?" she whispered in a daze.

"It's okay," he comforted her. "I'm here."

As soon as he was able, Jonathon got both him and his wife out of their upturned wrecked truck.

As they stumbled to their feet, Martha uttered the most resounding question that was on his mind and just about everyone else's in that town that hadn't been informed yet. "What was that?"

"I don't know…"Jonathon began and then he allowed his voice to trail as his eyes caught onto a piece of silver that was glowing in the distance.

"Jonathon,….."Martha gazed at her husband questioningly.

"Stay here." Jonathon told her firmly, and then measuring his steps, carefully headed over towards the shiny silver object that seemed to be protruding from Hayley's corn field in the distance.

As Jonathon edged closer he heard the sound of a hatch creaking open. Fear instantly rushed through his veins, but he felt the urge to move forward. That he must find out what that shiny silver unidentified object was protruding from his neighbor's farm.

The top of the hatch of the spaceship hissed and slid forward revealing something squirming inside. As Jonathon warily edged closer to it he faintly heard the sound of a baby crying.

Baffled by the sound coming from the shiny silver object, he immediately ran over fearing that some kid was trapped underneath it or something. When he came upon the unidentified object, his ice blue eyes widened at what he saw. Inside the shiny unidentified object was a cargo more precious than anything on earth, a baby. A human looking baby boy was lying precariously inside the ship. And he had the most deepest, trusting brown eyes ever that Jonathon had ever seen.

"Martha!" Jonathon called, completely stunned.

"Jonathon!" Martha called back and half stumbled/half ran instantly to his side. Once she was standing beside him and caught where his ice blue gaze was, all she could do was whisper, "Oh,….oh my…"

Jonathon carefully bent down and lifted the tiny infant into his arms and then gently handed him over to Martha.

"Where did he come from Jonathon? Where are his parents?" Martha immediately asked as she wrapped the infant up in a dark blue blanket that she noticed was lying in the ship.

Jonathon stared up in wonder and marvel at the sky. "I don't think his parents are from around here, Martha. Where ever they did come from, something tells me they had a pretty important reason for sending him here cause no parent just abandons their baby in the middle of a cornfield in a ….." he found himself stumbling over the last word in his sentence because it was undeniably and astoundingly true. "Spaceship."

Martha gazed at the tiny infant she was cradling in her soft arms. The infant was crying because he missed his mother. "There, there." Martha cooed. "Everything is alright. Everything is fine. We'll keep you safe, I promise."

"We?" Jonathon repeated incredulously as he whirled around to face his wife.

"Jonathon, look at how we found him! And he's all alone. We have to keep him," Martha rebuked him as she held the baby tighter against herself. She felt that God had answered her prayers of wanting a child of her own. And since she had been told today that she was not capable of having children and had been thinking about adoption, this was a blessing from the skies for her. She didn't care how he had came to her, so long as she could call him her own.

Jonathon's gaze shifted from the spacecraft to the infant, from the infant to the spacecraft. Back and forth and back and forth.

"I guess we're going to have to keep him," Jonathon muttered minutes later. "God knows how we'd explain this all to the CIA and FBI anyway."

Martha smiled with radiance at her husband. Her green eyes shone excitedly.

"So…" Jonathon saddled up along side of his wife. "What are we going to call him?"

"Clark," she breathed. "Clark Matthew Kent."

And so it came about that Clark Kent grew up on the Kent's farm with Jonathon and Martha Kent as his parents. He was handsome with a nice thick head of dark brown hair, amazing brown eyes, broad shoulders, great abs, and amazing biceps. As he entered adolescence he discovered that he was not like the regular mortal teenage boys on Earth, and was soon told by his parents how they found him and adopted him. The normal teenage boy's raging hormones gave them acne problems and rebellious mood swings. Meanwhile Clark's raging hormones caused him to light things on fire, have incredible strength, see through objects except for lead, freeze things, blow things away, have super speed, be impenetrable, and last but not least….fly.

Despite all of these discoveries there was one girl that seemed to understand what he was going through but yet didn't quite know his true identity. Her name was Lana Lang, and she was beautiful beyond compare with silky black hair and snow-white skin, was very sweet and very kind. However, it was because of his lack of honesty with hiding his secret from her, that he lost her in the end when he graduated from high school. And so he left for college and studied abroad. On weekends though, he'd come home and help out on the family farm. And then after college and graduating with an associate's degree in journalism, he left for the big city in the state of Illinois called, Metropolis.

It was the day after Clark Kent's 28th birthday, a bunch of years since he graduated high school, and six months after he had helped his dad plant the final corn crop of the season, which he had really enjoyed because since he had been in college it had been hard to spend any one on one quality time with his dad except for on the weekends. He stood at the front of a taxi cab car, swaying, enjoying the spectacle of the city of Metropolis bustling around him fast. The many colored roofs of the tall buildings, the tiny side streets, the hurried people, the fast cars and taxis and buses, the wide avenues, and the millions of windows gleaming in the morning sunshine.

Exhaling deeply, he opened the back side passenger door of the taxi cab car and got in. There was just something about this city that he felt attracted to. He wasn't sure what, but when one of his co-workers at his internship in Smallville, Kansas had told him about it, he was interested at the first uttered syllable about it. And he wanted nothing more but only to work in this amazing city at the most famous-greatest newspaper business in the world, the Daily Planet.

"Million Dollar Drug Dealer Ring Exposed" was the headline on the Daily Planet's morning edition that day, an exclusive by Lois Lane. All the papers and television stations picked up the story quickly. "A drug dealer ring was smashed by a brilliant raid…." a newscaster was reporting on the television screen in the newsroom.

Lois Lane had made a startling transformation from grubby, scruffy man in disguise to beautiful, professional woman, now wearing a sharply maroon suit and skirt and high heels, with her dark brown hair glossy and shining. She accepted her congratulations and admiration from her co-workers with modesty. "Oh come on, you guys, it was nothing, really," she said. A beaming smile that lit her hazel eyes with a glow showed how pleased she was, nonetheless.

"I still can't believe that they believed you were a man and a drug dealer wannabe," Jimmy Olson said, shaking his head in wonder.

"Well, the mustache helped, and thanks for teaching me how to walk and talk like a man," she said to him.

Jimmy raised his coffee mug in a toast. "To Lois Lane, still going where no reporter has gone before!" he joked. The staff members laughed and clapped until the booming voice of the editor-in-chief cut through their ranks.

"Hey! Turn that damn TV off!" Perry White instructed someone with a curt gesture to the television. "Now Jimmy, don't encourage her, she's got a head as big as the Metro Dome as it is!" he said gruffly, as he gave Lois that special smile he reserved just for her.

"Well, it's nice to know I'm appreciated around here, Chief," she said saucily.

"What do you expect…..a red carpet lay out before you at your feet?" he suggested with a wicked smile.

"No," she said with a quick laugh. "But I would like a raise."

"Well I'd like a nice '69 black leather interior Porsche, but hey, Lois…." He showed her the insides of his empty pockets. "Times are tough." The gathered staff in the newsroom laughed. Perry noticing the party that was starting to develop in his newsroom, shouted firmly, "What's everybody standing around here for? This is a newspaper, not Happy Hour in Cancun!"

Jimmy followed his boss across the newsroom, eagerly trying to get his attention. "Chief, I got an angle on the mini-restaurant murders. Chief, I figure there was blood on the tables because—check this out—they were eating right, and the perpetrators came…"

Perry stopped at the door of his office and turned to face the enthusiastic boy. "Did you finish those Wedding Engagement updates?"

Jimmy looked crestfallen that his boss wasn't interested in his idea. A murder was far more exciting than the wedding engagement announcements. He wondered if Lois Lane had started off writing wedding engagement announcements.

"Jimmy," Perry began, sounding each word out clearly, "never underestimate the need for a good wedding engagement announcement in the newspaper." With that, he went into his office and closed the door.

Jimmy turned away. "I can think of one right now," he muttered under his breath. He headed over to Lois's desk, angrily tossing down his notebook. She moved it from her work, making an annoyed face at him. Then he spied her pink message pad. "Whoa, I guess you've finally hit the big time!"

Lois, concentrating on her work, didn't look up. "Huh?"

"This time, Lex Luthor's personal assistant…"he began teasingly with a big grin, and as Lois jumped to reach the pad he danced back, trying to keep it from her, "returning your call," he finished in a rush as she snagged it from him. She looked at it in disappointment and crumpled it up. "Give it up, Lois," Jimmy said. "Luthor never gives one-on-one interviews."

Lois just looked at him with pure confidence written all over face. "Well, he's never met Lois Lane before, either," she told him determinedly.

Clark Kent stepped out of the taxi cab, and stared up at the famous globe hanging over the entrance of the corner of the building, reading the name "Daily Planet" wrapped around it in neon blue lettering. He was here! He was lucky that his connections had landed him an interview with the Editor-in-Chief, Perry White. There was no time to stand on the sidewalk, gawking at the massive iron globe like a tourist; he didn't want to be late. He took a deep breath, and carried his suitcase inside to ask for directions to Perry White's office.

Mr. White seemed a little less organized and efficient than the young man had expected. In fact, he seemed rather distracted as he rifled through the loose sheets of paper that covered his desk. "So you are Mister, uh…."

"Kent, Clark Kent," the young man supplied quickly.

Perry White found the resume he had received. "Ah yes, Kent. Oh, Professor Vail called me about you; boy, I haven't seen him in I don't know….Let's see here," he suddenly said, remembering the purpose of the appointment and trying to bring himself back to the matter at hand. "Editor, Smallville Press," he read slowly, his smile faltering a little. He'd never heard of Smallville. "Where is that, that's in…."

"Kansas."

"Kansas," the chief repeated, trying to keep his voice neutral. The phone rang with a shrill, insistent sound. "Oh, just a minute please," he apologized and reached out and grabbed the receiver. "Yeah….oh, tell him to keep his pants on! If Dos Gringos can't deliver on time, just find a place that can!" he ended up hollering into the mouthpiece before slamming it down. "Would you believe I had to buy a blood pressure monitor last week?" he asked Clark as he laid two fingers against the side of his neck and looked at his watch.

"Chamomile tea," Clark offered.

"I beg your pardon?" Perry asked blankly.

"Gypsies in Romania drink chamomile tea to relieve stress, it puts them in a meditative state. Maybe you should try it," he suggested helpfully. A woman entered the office and laid some papers on Perry's cluttered desk, leaving silently.

"Oh, well, I see you've done some traveling," Perry observed, not quite sure what to make of that information. Drink chamomile tea in a work place instead of coffee? Was the boy serious?

"Well, this is my first trip to Metropolis," Clark clarified. "I have some samples of my work," he remembered, bringing some papers out of his satchel.

"Oh good, good, let's take a look," the editor said agreeably as he accepted them. He liked this young man's honest face. He began to read some of his work with his southern accent caressing the final words in one of his beautiful pieces about an old theatre stage being torn down in Kansas City. "She came to say goodbye, as we all must, to the past, and to a life and a place that would soon exist only in a bittersweet memory." he smiled broadly at Clark.

He was interrupted by a dark-haired young man who burst through the office door. "All right, Chief, I fixed the horn on your golf cart," he announced happily.

"Not now, Jimmy," Perry said abruptly.

"The tone's still off," the lad continued apologetically.

"Jimmy, not now!" Perry shouted. Jimmy didn't waste any time leaving. "Now, as I was, uh, saying, how soon do you want to sta…"

He was interrupted again when a young woman burst in through the door behind his desk, calling to him before she'd even entered the room. "Chief! I think there's a story here and we should have this guy checked out, you know, that Lex Luthor guy who seems to think he's in charge of the world? He's having this banquet here…"

"Lois!" the Chief exploded. "Can't you see I'm in the middle of something here?" he asked plaintively. Clark rose to his feet politely to meet the woman, intrigued by the fire in her hazel eyes and the intensity of her manner.

"Oh," she said, not sounding in the least bit apologetic. She barely afforded Clark a glance before turning expectantly to her editor and waiting impatiently.

"Lois Lane, Clark Kent," Perry introduced.

"Nice to meet you," she said, sparing him another brief glance without really seeing him. She turned immediately back to her editor. "Anyway, he's having this banquet to show…"

Clark closed his mouth, his polite words of greeting having been totally sideswiped by her rapid-fire words to Perry White, and used the hand he had extended to Lois to adjust his glasses instead. He was taken aback by her brusque rudeness and yet he admired the dedication she obviously had for her work.

"Wait, wait, wait a minute!" Perry interrupted, holding a hand up to stop any more words from spilling out. "What happened to that mood piece I gave you about that eHarmony online dating service?"

"I wasn't in the mood," she said with a touch of sarcasm.

"You weren't in the mood," he repeated in disgust. "Now look, Lois, you can't come in here and tell me you're not in the….."

The young woman was no longer paying attention, and Clark saw the golf-cart fixer making urgent faces at the glass window of Perry's door, pantomiming a phone call. "I gotta go, I'll catch you later!" she told her boss, drowning out his tirade as she swept out of his office like a tornado of energy.

"I tell you, if that woman wasn't the best damned investigative reporter I've ever seen, I….!" Perry put his fingers against his pulse point in his neck again, sure that the stress of his job would give him a stroke one day. Then he remembered what he had been discussing before the interruptions: hiring this amazing writer, Clark Kent.

"Mr. White, I know I lack experience," Clark said earnestly, "but I'm a good writer…."

"Kent," Perry interrupted.

"And a hard worker, and I…."

"Kent," Perry interrupted again, more reassuringly and gently. "You're smooth. Welcome to the Daily Planet!" He extended his hand to Clark, who took it with delight. They shook hands and Clark picked up his satchel to go and find a work desk in this busy bustling place.

Perry smiled and then stared at his throbbing hand with a grimace and a whimper of pain, holding it away from his body. He then looked at the boy whom was walking out of his office with an exuberant expression, his eyes wide. This boy had a pretty strong grip!

Clark's moment of triumph as he began his search for his work desk was immediately interrupted, though, when someone came rushing past him towards Lois's desk.

"Lex Luthor Corp. is on fire!" a staff member cried out in distress.

"Lois, get over here!" someone else shouted.

"Turn it up!" Perry shouted coming out of his office and pointing at the TV.

Clark immediately went and joined the group. They headed towards the TV in the middle of the newsroom and gathered around the television monitor.

"This fast breaking story, we have a reporter on the scene and we're trying to establish contact with her. Kiera Sampson, can you hear me? She's in front of the building right now. Kiera?"

Just then one of the above windows exploded into a terrible fireball of air.

The reporter on the scene, looked positively stunned. "Jayme, you've seen what we've seen here, a terrible tragedy unfolding, there seems to be something….hopefully, Mr. Luther will be able to explain all of this once he gets to this building."

Lois gazed at the fiery scene, stricken. "I knew there was something amiss when his personal secretary called back and said he couldn't be interviewed."

"Now Lois," Perry tried to begin reasonably. "Lex Luthor owns half of the buildings and businesses here in Metropolis. You can't just assume…"

"Just because his secretary claimed that he would be busy? Busy with what? Destroying one of his own buildings without any explanation just to receive more money?" she asked him.

Clark saw how affected she was by this story, and her determination to investigate the story, and admired her for it. Here was a woman who cared! Perry saw it too, and he knew that if there was anything to this explosion story that had a connection to the reason of Lex Luthor's upcoming banquet, Lois Lane would dig up the truth.

In Perry's office, Lois laid out her game plan. "I'll need a task force, I can't uncover this story alone."

"You can have Jimmy," Perry offered.

"Chief," Lois said dryly, "we're talking about the story of the century here that deals with the infamous Lex Luthor!"

"Okay, take Kent."

"Kent?" she repeated incredulously.

"Kent," he confirmed impatiently.

"What about Cat Stratford?" she asked hopefully.

"Out to lunch."

"Frank Madsen?" she tried desperately.

"In Iraq."

"Forget Kent," she declared.

"Uh-uh," he said firmly. "He's a good man."

"Kent is a redneck hack from Smallville, I couldn't even make that name up!" she snorted.

"Kent, or nobody."

Lois recognized the steely glint in Perry's eyes, and knew she'd better surrender. "Fine. Don't ever tell me that I'm not a team player, White, because I am." She turned on her heel and stalked out of his office.

"Let's hit it," she told Kent, swatting his arm briskly as she strode purposefully towards her desk.

Clark hurried to catch up with her. "Mind if I ask where we're going?"

"To interview Lex Luthor's personal secretary. She's convinced that no one should ever speak to Lex Luthor about anything that goes on in this damn city and I'm going to find out why. Also, there's bound to be a connection between that fire that just happened at one of his most important lawyer businesses and the banquet that he's hosting within a couple of nights." Lois grabbed her coat and purse from her desk. Clark quickly grabbed his jacket too and ran to catch up. "And let's get something straight, I didn't work my butt off to become an investigative reporter for the Daily Planet just to baby-sit some farm-hick from Nowheresville! And one other thing," she said pausing to take a breath as they stood in front of the elevator on the top of the landing. "You are working with me and for me. I call the shots, I ask the questions. You are low man, I am top banana. And don't fall for me, farm boy, I don't have time for it." She paused again as the elevator doors opened, "Comprende?"

"You like to be on top, got it." Clark returned clearly, making sure that he was going to change Lois Lane's opinion of him. She wanted to push, he'd push right back.

Lois glared at him venomously in the elevator. "Don't fall for me, farm boy, like I said before. You are way out of your league."

They took a cab to Lex Luthor's headquarters known as the Luthor Mansion in downtown Metropolis. The center of the city, the center of attention, just the way Mr. Luthor liked it.

Lex Luthor's headquarters was a tall, shining building with several windows and an amazing viewpoint from the roof. The door opened a fraction of an inch, due to it being so heavy, and so Lois and Clark had to carefully admit themselves in.

At the head desk, a beautiful blonde female secretary sat behind it with glittering eyes. Her head seemed downcast in sorrow. When she saw Lois Lane and Clark Kent, her eyes widened a bit.

"Ms. Candace? We'd like to ask you a few questions about the explosion in one of your important lawyer attorney buildings. Lex Luthor Corp. I believe was the name." Lois let the words roll as sweetly off her tongue as possible.

Ms. Candace was surprisingly emotional as she spoke. "Naturally we're all still in a state of shock. I don't suppose I have to tell you what a catastrophe that explosion was. Attorney Mr. Suite was one of our best lawyers that covered medical issues. All of his prized work, his co-workers, and his wife Elizabeth whom also worked there as one of his personal secretaries…."

"Ms. Candace, what's being done to investigate the cause of the explosion?" Lois asked, all business.

"Well, we won't know anything until we've examined the burned building. We're in the process of sending some explosive experts over there right now for inspection."

"Can we look at it?"

"Sorry, no press allowed."

"Has Lex Luther made any comment on it, yet?"

"He thinks it might have some connection to the people who were threatening him that if they didn't shut down this one case, we'd be asking for it."

"What case?"

"Someone, I'm not sure who, someone very important had discovered some type of strong flu illness, and Lex Medical Research wanted to see it so they could create an antidote for it in case it got spread, but the company that had found the illness wanted to find the antidote instead since they figured it was their case."

Confused, Lois asked. "What was the name of the company or person?"

"That's classified. I'm not allowed to tell the press."

"No exceptions?" Clark asked, looking directly at her.

Ms. Candace looked into his warm brown eyes. Then she gave him an appraising glance from head to toe. She obviously liked what she saw, for she smiled and amended her hard line. "I'll see what I can do."

"Great," Clark said, flashing Ms. Candace a quick smile. If a little extra friendliness gained them an advantage, he figured it wouldn't hurt.

Lois tried to keep from rolling her eyes. Didn't the woman have any professionalism? "On the subject of Mr. Lex Luthor…."

"He's out of the office and won't be returning until later so you may not interview him today. However, he did give me this number if you wish to call him personally instead of me all the time. He admires your persistence, or so he told me." Ms. Candace said immediately, turning and retrieving it. She set the piece of paper in Lois's hands and that ended the subject.

Lois had one more question though. "Do you know what Lex Luthor's banquet about the fundings for a new Medical Research building would be all about? Why does he need another one when he already has one built? Does it have anything to do with his competitor…or is that…."

"Coolants," Ms. Candace cut her off. "I'm not sure, but I can check my records on Mr. Luthor's upcoming events." she offered.

"Could you? And, give us a call?" Lois produced a business card and handed it to Ms. Candace.

"Certainly, I'd be glad to help." She eyed Clark once more, and her voice softened as she added to him, "Let me know if I can be of any further assistance."

"Thank you," he acknowledged with another smile.

A few minutes later, Lois and Clark were walking back towards the street where they had gotten their taxi cab.

"She seemed cooperative," Clark said to break the silence.

"I don't trust her," Lois said.

"Very attractive," Clark added. "Young, for a woman in her position."

"Typical!" she said in disgust.

"What?"

"That's a typical male response," she said scathingly.

"Lois, trust me on this, I am not a typical male," Clark assured her, amused.

"No? Just because she's…..okay looking….."

"She's very okay!" he interjected with a grin, enjoying the way he was getting a rise out of her.

"You automatically assume she's telling the truth?" Lois ended.

"That's pretty cynical, Lois."

"It's realistic, Clark. At least I don't go through life disappointed."

He spent the rest of the trip back to the newsroom wondering what had happened to Lois Lane to make her so hard on the outside, and wondering what she was really like on the inside.

Once back at the Daily Planet, Perry assigned Jimmy Olson to show Clark around the newsroom. "We have different sections, just like the paper has different sections," Jimmy explained. "Society, Sports, Entertainment…Come here." Clark obediently followed him around, wondering how long it would take for all this bustle to become familiar, wondering if he would ever feel a part of the team.

Lois was by the coffee pot watching Clark follow Jimmy around. At first she had been thinking about maybe giving this farm boy a chance to actually learn something from the famous Lois Lane. However, after he had used his masculine abilities to con answers from Luthor's personal secretary…..she began to wonder if he just wasn't like all the other newsmen she had met. Complete entire conceited womanizers.

She sighed, wondering if she'd ever meet Mr. Right. She was after all 26 and all the guys she had met that were younger or older than her had seemed all like flakes. And some hick from Nowheresville? Please, farm boys were just not that appealing to her taste. She needed someone with class who could relate to her busy life and understand her with compassion. Care for her. Tend to her wounded heart and pride from going from little miss nobody reporter to outstanding famous reporter by smashing obstacle after obstacle. Someone who knew how to whisk her off her feet and protect her from the cruelties of the world.

Frowning a little, she picked up her phone and dialed Lex Luthor's personal home number that Ms. Candace had given her. Where there was smoke, there was fire, and where there was fire…..there definitely was a story!

"Lex Luthor!" Lois exclaimed excitedly when she finally got him on the phone.

"Ms. Lane, I've heard you've been trying to get a hold of me?" his voice tinted with curiosity and suspicion.

"Why haven't you returned my calls?" Lois challenged him back.

"Well, I can assure you I'll never make that mistake again," he said gallantly to her, changing his tone of voice, as Lex was realizing how sexy hers sounded over the phone and was enticed to know more.

"I hope you'll forgive me for being so bold…"she began, not sounding at all contrite.

"Boldness is a trait that I find very attractive in a woman, Miss Lane," Lex said, gleaming on the other end.

Delighted, and rather surprised, Lois laughed. It was the first time she'd ever heard that! "Well, thank you." She turned more professional as she was about to inquire about the explosion that happened today, the mysterious medical case, banquet, and interview that she wanted with him.

"Anyway, Mr. Luthor, I…." she began but was cut off.

"Lex," he corrected smoothly.

How magnetic, warm, and engaging this man really was!

Lois couldn't help but smile radiantly in her seat, "I know that you're hesitant to give interviews…."

"Well, you understand, a man in my position, I wouldn't want to be misinterpreted. I have had one or two bad experiences with the media," he said wryly.

"But not with me!" she said throatily, in a persuasive tone.

"Why don't we make it dinner later after the banquet? I actually, want you to come to the banquet tomorrow night so I can meet you face to face before I have dinner with you the night after the banquet. I suspect you probably already have a date or escort, since you sound so gorgeous over the phone. So, I won't be surprised if you bring one. I won't be hurt. A friend or co-worker perhaps?"

"Perhaps," Lois agreed, trying to wrack her brain who she could possibly find that wouldn't mind taking her to the banquet.

"I'll see you tomorrow," Lex told her.

"Tomorrow," Lois promised.

Hours later, Lois was still calling around trying to find a date to Lex Luthor's banquet after she had gotten off the phone with that amazing man.

Clark was at his desk researching on his computer as much as he could about Mr. Luthor's Medical Research facility and the new possible flu virus and any connections with the explosion. Something just didn't fit in right with everything they had concluded so far today. He idly listened to Lois's conversation that she was having across the room from him, wondering if she was up to doing the same thing, and was thinking about collaborating with her and working together as a team to solve this great mystery. He wanted to make a good impression as an excellent reporter to both Perry White and Lois Lane. Lois Lane, of coarse, mostly.

"No, Eric," she was saying in a resigned tone. "I'm not mad. If you have the sniffles then you have the sniffles….yeah, that could lead to complications." she agreed listlessly into the phone as she scanned her address book. "No, don't call me, I'll call you."

Lois hung up the phone, knowing that she'd never speak to Eric again. Whoever heard of canceling plans to attend Lex Luthor's banquet because of the sniffles? That's what Dimetap cold medicine was for! How was she going to find another escort at the last minute when the event was tomorrow night? She couldn't go alone. She'd never hear the end of it and it wouldn't look professional to Mr. Luthor whom was obviously expecting it. Feeling glum, she looked around the newsroom.

Clark quickly pulled the computer screen closer to him and began to look at it more interestingly as if he'd just found something, which he hadn't yet. The results he had found so far were vague and not very helpful.

Lois's eyes lit on the newcomer, Clark Kent, working at his desk. She paused, eyeing him thoughtfully. He was new in town and he probably didn't know anyone, so he might not have plans for tomorrow night. She could ask him. He wasn't exactly sophisticated, but….

No, that was a crazy idea!

Then again, she was desperate, and she could make sure he understood that this was a black tie affair, so he wouldn't embarrass her by showing up in jeans and a flannel shirt.

She stood up, paused for a moment, and then walked irresolutely over to his desk, sighing heavily. "I don't suppose you own a tuxedo," she said negatively.

"I could get one," he said, looking up at her expectantly. He was looking forward to what she was going to ask. "Why?" he asked, feigning innocence. Like he hadn't used his super-hearing to eavesdrop.

"Oh, well, the man I was going to go to Lex Luthor's banquet with has the flu or cold or something," she explained lightly, hoping he'd catch on right away.

"Yes?" he asked expectantly. He wanted her to say it fully and not have him guess what she was getting at.

"Well, I was just wondering if you'd like to…." she stopped, hoping he would save her from having to fully ask. Then she noticed the amused gleam in his deep brown eyes, and saw that he was enjoying trying to get it out of her. "Do you want to take his place or not?" she demanded in exasperation, clearly annoyed with what he was doing.

Clark grinned at the blunt, almost defiant way she had phrased it. Not exactly his idea of a romantic approach, there were better in his book, and he could show her too, if she'd only drop her protective walls and let him. "Well, thanks anyway, Lois, but I thought I'd watch the Chicago Bulls game tomorrow tonight."

"Are you crazy?" she asked incredulously. "This is the most social event of the season! Everyone who is anyone is going to be there, and you want to watch Basketball?"

He rose from his seat and approached her. "So, is this a date?" His pause emphasized the meaning.

Teasing Lois was fun, there was such a fiery light in her hazel eyes that he just enjoyed.

"Date? Oh!" her voice suddenly became deceptively sweet. "Date as in like how back home in Kansas where you meet my parents and then try and give me a hickey behind the Dairy Queen." She glared at him then, "This is not a date! This is business! When we go to this banquet it will be to find out as much information as we can about that flu illness, the explosion, and the connection between all of that and Lex Luthor!"

"Okay," Clark said, stopping Lois's tirade.

Lois looked momentarily surprised, surprised that he had actually understood her and wasn't some redneck, dumb, thickheaded man. "Good. I'll see you at nine. I'll come and pick you up." She then stalked away from him and headed home for the night.

Clark waggled his fingers at her cheerfully. He chuckled once she was out of sight. Even though she didn't seem very enthusiastic about having him as a substitute escort, he had to admit that her take on Kansas dating was pretty funny.

Now that his evening plans had substantially changed, thanks to Lois's invite, Clark quickly gathered his belongings and left work. He was having dinner with his parents, and he decided to go straight to Smallville without stopping at a hotel. He ducked into a dark alley, slipping his glasses into his jacket pocket in preparation for his flight. Then checking to make sure that no homeless man or anyone was lurking about, he tore open his shirt to reveal a spandex blue suit, red cape, and a large "S" on his chest.

It was an outfit that his mother, Martha Kent, had created for him before he came to Metropolis so that he could use his superpowers to help people while there while still maintaining his normal alter ego. They still hadn't come up with an alter-name for when he was in the suit, but since there was an "S" on his chest; Clark had suggested Superman because of his "super" abilities. Martha had shook her head, muttering that no one would be looking at his face and of course Clark got what she was saying. But he was pleased nonetheless. So far though, he hadn't had the use really for the suit but to fly home unnoticed at night. And not that many people were up then, except for the drunks, so no one would really know about his super powers until very later.

Just as he was about to take off, a man emerged from behind a corner brick wall. "Hey, buddy, got a buck?" the man asked, not very hopefully. His voice trailed off at the end as he saw that the young man in a dark blue spandex suit and red cape with red boots was hovering two feet above the ground!

Clark turned in alarm. He hadn't seen the homeless man during his haste to undress and fly home. He hadn't seen anybody at the time. For a heart-pounding moment, he was afraid. For one wild moment, he hoped the man hadn't gotten a very good look at him, and maybe if he took off really quickly his secret would be safe. But Clark was never one to abandon a man in need of help. He didn't have much money left, but he certainly had more than this guy did. He reached into his discarded pants pocket, and walked on air towards the man, handing him a 10 dollar bill.

"Oh!" the man chortled appreciatively. "You must be some kind of angel!" Then he stared in astonishment at Clark, who smiled as he rose slowly and gracefully into the night sky, made a lazily looping circle overhead, and vanished with a whoosh.

"Some kind of …angel!" the homeless man repeated in amazement.

Clark swooped effortlessly past the skyscrapers, a satisfied feeling from having helped someone transforming into a giddy excitement. Metropolis spread out below and around him, a glittering array of lights and muted sounds, full of excitement and danger, and a sharp-tongued, prickly young woman with beautiful burnished brown hair and lively hazel eyes.

It wasn't a date, he reminded himself; she wasn't interested in him. The grin remained on his face though all the way west to Kansas. He landed in front of an old farmhouse which glowed softly with welcoming lights, climbed the porch steps, and opened the door. It was great to be home!

"Dinner was great, Mom, thanks," Clark said warmly. After eating take-out in his crummy apartment, it was a balm to his soul to eat a home-cooked meal.

"Thanks, honey," Martha murmured in response, happy to have him home for a visit.

His father grunted in agreement, but couldn't refrain from adding, "More than I get these days! Your mother is now an artist," he explained to Clark, gesturing to a large, rather severe looking metal sculpture in the middle of the room. It was all sharp angles and silver planes punctuated with holes.

"I call it 'Tortured Heart'," Martha said with a broad smile. "What do you think? Too cerebral or elegant?" she asked, suddenly looking a bit unsure.

"No! No, it's…." He searched for an adjective. He thought the sculpture was interesting, and his mom's welding skills were impressive, but it was a rather bizarre name for it! He wouldn't hurt his mom's feelings for anything in the world, though, and she was looking at him hopefully. "It's very imaginative," he finished.

"Uh-huh," his father grunted, giving him a knowing look as he rose from the table with his dishes.

"So now tell me more about this woman you're going to Lex Luthor's banquet with," his mother called from the kitchen.

"Lois is…well, she's complicated," Clark began, not quite sure how to sum up Lois Lane. "Domineering, uncompromising, conceited, brilliant….beautiful," he added more softly with a smile. His parents both picked up on the change in his voice, and they smiled at him, prompting him to add, "And we're not really going out, it's 'business'."

"Uh-huh," Martha said, her smile growing bigger.

"Thanks for sewing my red cape, Mom," he said as he stood up.

"You're welcome, honey," she said softly.

"That electrical storm over Cleveland was brutal."

"Maybe you should take another route," she suggested simply, putting her arms up for a hug. "See you next week, honey. I love you. Take care!"

Jonathon went outside with Clark, and the two stood out by the barn for a few moments together, silently looking up at the sky. "I forget how beautiful it is here," Clark said contemplatively, his voice disturbing the hush of the evening. "The only stars you see in Metropolis are riding around in limos," he added wryly.

"You're the one who wanted the rat race," his father said lightly. "I couldn't live there for a minute!"

Clark tried to explain to his dad what the appeal was. "There's something about the city….the pace….everyone going somewhere."

"Impatient," Jonathon finished for him. "Just like you." He smiled at him, knowing that Clark would never grow up to be a farmer and take over his farming business. "Well, I guess you finally found your niche."

"I hope so, Dad," he answered with a sigh, looking around at his home and wondering if there was a place for him in this world. "Being in Metropolis, working at the famous Daily Planet, it's a total dream come true, but…."

"You still don't feel like you fit in." Jonathon finished for him.

"Well, part of me does but not my…" his voice trailed again in a sigh.

"Not your superhuman part," Jonathon said.

"I don't!" Clark said quickly. "I don't fit in." he was so frustrated with the idea that he never would because of his differences. Because of his gifts. He needed to let go of his pain, and he had a pretty good idea of how to do it too. He spotted a rock on the ground and concentrated all of his self-pity into a swift kick.

Jonathon watched the rock soar up into orbit.

"I have to find a way! I have to be normal with them but still have my superhuman abilities."

"Normal, whatever that means," Jonathon said, shrugging it off.

"Just….living, working, meeting someone, having a family." Clark replied wistfully.

"Clark, we don't know if that's possible," his dad cautioned him.

"But I can't give up…..not forever." Clark protested passionately.

Jonathon patted his son's back reassuringly. If it was important to Clark, he could offer his support. "You'll find a way, boy. You'll find a way."

When Clark arrived back at his apartment, the first thing he did was go to his laptop computer and start researching illnesses and Lex Corp. Medical Research.

What he found after some clever snooping and hacking in, was that one of Lex's prime research doctors had found a deadly virus that could bombard the mind so much that it could kill them. An antidote had been made secretly, but one of Lex's other researchers had wanted it to make a profit. Question was, who? And if there was an antidote, where would one find it in case they needed to save the city with it the correct way instead of just using it to make a profit and seem like the city's savior?

Clark was in the shower getting ready for Lois's arrival, still thinking about his idea that he had come up with yet that night before he had gone to bed that night. His plan was to snoop around the Luthor Mansion during the banquet to discover what he could about that so-called illness, the explosion, and the antidote that had been secretly made without anyone's notice.

Still damp, and clad only in towel, he made his way to his bedroom to go and put on his tux.

Suddenly, there was a knock on his door. Clark immediately went and retrieved his glasses.

Lois was standing there impatiently in a beautiful black halter dress when he opened the door. Her hazel eyes dropped to the smooth expanse of his bare chest, the narrow waist and flat stomach, all muscle. "I said nine, I thought you'd be naked," she said, tearing her eyes off his physique with difficulty. She realized too late what had slipped out of her mouth, but she did an admirable job of pretending it hadn't happened. "Ready," she corrected, maintaining a look of studious indifference.

"Uh, hi," Clark greeted her a little embarrassed, as he ran a hand through his wet tousled hair.

"Hi. Oh, God! This is exactly why I should've never asked you out to that banquet." Lois suddenly babbles.

Confused, Clark states, "All I said was hi."

"Yes, I know and a dozen thoughts ran through my mind," Lois admitted. Seeing Clark's raised eyebrows of amusement, and realizing he was thinking it was because of his state of lack of apparel, Lois quickly amended. "You know, how's my makeup? Do I smell good? Do I have cappuccino or coffee breath? See? And all that was just with you saying hi. What's going to happen when you start saying sentences with more than one syllable tonight?"

"What did they put in your coffee this morning?" was the next sentence to come popping out of Clark's mouth.

Annoyed that this had no effect on Clark's concern about this, Lois crossed over the threshold and rolled her eyes to the ceiling.

"I was in the shower. I'll be out in a jiff," he promised, vanishing into his tiny bathroom.

Lois closed the door behind her without taking her eyes off him, admiring the muscles in his back. She hadn't realized that he had been keeping such a beautiful body underneath all of those suits and loud ties. Deciding that she was wandering down a dangerous path with such thoughts, she looked around the dingy room for something to do to erase the image of his towel-clad and muscular body from her mind.

She opened a kitchen cupboard, looking for a glass, and found that it was full of junk food. With a look of surprise, conjuring up the hard, flat stomach she had seen, she closed the cupboard and picked a glass up from the draining board, checking it carefully to make sure it was clean. When she opened the fridge in search of some orange juice to drink before they went to the banquet, she was astonished by an even vaster array of junk food stuffed in there.

A noise behind her startled her, and she turned around with an alarmed expression. Surely Clark couldn't have dressed so quickly in a tux! He couldn't possibly be coming out wearing less than that towel, could he?

Clark emerged from the bathroom, devilishly handsome in his black tuxedo and black paten dress shoes.

She gaped, wondering how on earth he had dressed so quickly, and then shook her head. Clark unobtrusively checked his zipper, wondering what she was staring at, and then grinned when he realized she was checking him out for a change instead of brushing him off.

Lois decided she must have been staring at the refrigerator's contents for longer than she realized. "We'd better be going." He nodded agreeably, and Lois started towards the door. She turned back abruptly, unable to contain her curiosity, the words tumbling out in staccato. "So, explain something to me. You….you…eat like an eight-year-old, and you look like Mr. Hardbody." She laughed self-consciously, feeling silly for having said anything. What's your secret, and can I have it?" she joked.

Clark looked at her blankly, and with a grunt of disgust she opened the door to leave. Clark grinned as he followed her out. She might want to pretend that she hadn't been ogling him, but he knew better.

Clark and Lois walked together through the elegant rooms of Lex Luthor's pent house with Metropolis's high society. The low murmur of a room full of conversations, the tinkling of glasses, the deferential hushed tones of waiters passing out cocktails…It was a glittering affair. Clark searched the room for Lex Luthor.

"Have you ever seen this Lex Luthor?" Clark asked idly.

"No, but I've talked with him on the phone. I have an interview set up with him tomorrow night here at his pent house." Lois told him excitedly.

Clark felt a sting of pain go straight to his heart.

To add another bullet to Clark's heart, Lois added enthusiastically. "Rags to riches, wrong side of the track, self-made billionaire, owns dozens of companies, employs thousands of people, Man of the Year every year, has his finger in every pie, but yet rarely appears in public which is a mystery to me." Lois intercepted a drink from a passing tray. "He claims he won't give personal interviews but I changed all that." She pauses as she sees a handsome man in his mid-thirties, looking very dignified come walking down the grand staircase. "That must be him!" she exclaims in awe, pointing Clark's attention to where she was gazing.

As Clark's gaze shifted over to the man whom was shaking hands graciously with all those who spoke to him as he passed, Clark wondered if the self-made billionaire part was made partly due to destroying businesses and dealing dirtily with money.

Lex Luthor made his way down the line like royalty. He was amidst so many Metropolis luminaries, and he on his mind was where that beautiful reporter was that he had talked to over the phone yesterday.

Clark, having not noticed that his 'date' had left his side in haste of Mr. Luthor, watched Mr. Luthor with calculating eyes.

Lex Luthor was talking to a trio of guests, when from behind him a woman's voice called out commandingly. A woman's voice, which he recognized at once from a phone call made a while ago.

"Lex Luthor!"

He turned, anxiously anticipating to find out what this Lois Lane looked like. He had been always known as a womanizer and was capable of turning suspicious beautiful women away from his doings. He was sure he'd have no problems with this reporter. All women have weaknesses. Hers he was sure to find and use it as a weapon against her, and use it for his own purposeful pleasure.

He saw the demanding woman immediately. She was slender, brunette, with gorgeous hazel eyes, and was wearing a very low-cut black halter knee-length dress.

Lois Lane was looking at him challengingly and bright. A woman who knew her own power, he thought, drawn to her in an instant. The storm raging outside matched the sudden tumultuous lurch he felt.

"That was an interesting call," Lois beamed.

Lex turned towards his companions, "Gentlemen," he murmured politely, excusing himself from their company gracefully before turning his full attention on this rare woman of fire and ice.

"Lois Lane, Daily Planet. We have an interview scheduled for tomorrow night." she said, extending a hand.

"Yes, I believe I called it dinner." Lex smiled, gallantly as he gave her a charming smile and swept her hand to his lips to brush a kiss on the back of it.

Clark finally noticed that his partner was over by Lex Luthor, and found himself unconsciously levitating. He wasn't sure if it was out of jealousy or fear for his partner or what. He quickly lowered himself back down to earth, literally, and hoped that no one had noticed.

Lois had accepted Lex's invitation to dance, and found him a very smooth partner. "I hope you'll forgive me for being so bold again."

"Boldness is a very attractive trait I had told you before, Miss Lane, that I liked in women," Lex reminded her, his eyes gleaming.

Delighted, Lois laughed. She was beginning to like this Mr. Luthor a lot!

"So, what time should we have dinner? Seven or eight?" Lex asked, gallantly.

"Seven would be great," Lois whispered.

Lois was glad that he couldn't see the triumphant gleam she knew must be visible in her eyes, as she rested her head on Lex's shoulder as they danced. She was sure she would have no problems with this interview/dinner. The exclusive personal interview with Lex Luthor under her byline would be a real feather in her cap!

"Mind if I cut in?" Clark asked politely.

Lois looked in fury at Clark, then quickly recovered her gracious smile. "Lex, this is Clark Kent. Clark works at the Planet with me," she said, not sounding anywhere near as sweet as she had hoped to. Inwardly, she was cursing him for interrupting.

"A pleasure," Lex said coolly as he shook Clark's hand, in a voice that was impeccably polite but had no feeling in it. He turned back to Lois, his eyes intense. "Thank you," he murmured to her, and then he strode off.

She followed him with her hazel eyes, still smiling, until the crowd swallowed him up, unaware of Clark pulling her into his arms and beginning to dance. As soon as Lex had vanished she swatted Clark angrily. "Clark, you idiot!" she fumed, still looking over his shoulder in hopes of another glimpse of Lex Luthor. "It's taken me years to get this close!"

"What, this close?" Clark asked with a smile, pulling her lithe body against his.

Lois would've made a disgusted sound deep in her throat and pushed him back, but she was discovering that Clark was very good with his hands as they were trailing up and down her back in a comforting massage form. She was also discovering that he was an amazing dancer.

Not wanting to admit she actually liked what Clark was doing, she said sarcastically, "I thought square dancing was more your style?"

"I learned from a Nigerian princess who studied ballroom dancing in England," Clark said, hoping to impress her the way Lex Luthor obviously had.

Lois's eyes narrowed at Clark incredulously. A Nigerian princess in England? Was this farm boy here for real? Little did Lois know she was about to discover a few other things about this farm boy that she would begin to wonder if it was for real.

As Clark and Lois stood there dancing, locked in a sensual embrace, a fanfare soon blared from the band to draw the attention of the milling throng of party-goers. "Ladies and gentlmen!" Lex called out in his well-bred tones. "Honored guests….my friends. Well, we've come here tonight for a good cause. Thanks to your generosity due to the sudden explosion of one of my prized businesses, the Medical Research facility will now takeover and be able to cure one of the most dreadful flu illnesses of all time! So, rest assured your health is all in good hands!"

The guests began to applaud, but Lex held his hands up to stop them. "Thank you. As you know, my son Lionel and I have dedicated ourselves to improving the quality of lives in Metropolis. Tonight I'd like to go further. Lionel and I have created an antidote that will cure the deadly flu illness. However, we have yet to give it to hospitals all over America because they doubt our research and claim that an outbreak of the deadly flu has not yet occurred, and therefore the antidote is not needed."

Some of the guests booed at his comment.

Meanwhile, Lois was appalled by his first statement, and she was having no problem outraging it to Clark. "He has a son?! That blasted self-made billionaire has a son?! How does he have a son? He doesn't have a wife! Unless he adopted…."

Clark only shrugged in reply, a little triumphant smile spreading across his face. "Guess you'll just find out at your interview with him tomorrow night won't you?"

Deep inside Clark's mind, Clark was beginning to piece the pieces of the puzzle together. Lex blew up one of his buildings so that his son could take over the medicine, and they would make billions on the antidote themselves. However, since there wasn't an outbreak yet of the deadly flu illness….how would they make those billions? And then realizing that if you're a rich mastermind, you wouldn't have much of a problem probably starting an outbreak of the dreadful illness.

His impulses began to ignite like a fuse, because he realized that the antidote wasn't in hospitals yet and millions of children and people would die because of it. Millions of children, innocent people, people like Lois.

Clark definitely now planned to definitely snoop around Lex's home for the antidote and any evidence that might be useful in helping bring this felon down and saving the people of Metropolis. And then he remembered Lois's interview/dinner with Lex that was coming up. He had to warn her of Lex's possible plot…..and then he stopped himself. She probably wouldn't believe him. She probably wouldn't believe that Lex Luthor was a mastermind from Hell and that she shouldn't go on that interview/dinner date.

"Rejections aside, Luthorcorp's Medical Research facility will find a way to bring this medicine to the people of Metropolis and around the world! Rest assures you all, that is what Lionel and I live to do!"

With that pronouncement, everyone in the room cheered.

Everyone that is, except Clark Kent.

Oh, sure he'd give the medicine to the people…..eventually. And only if he got to make a billion dollars off of it as profit and still millions of people would die because some of them are too poor to receive it. That unbelievable basta….

Clark's thoughts were diminished by Lois's cry of, "Angel!"

So, not the word he was going for to finish his thoughts.

"Lois!" Clark turned towards her incredulously. "How can you think that man is an angel? Didn't you just hear what he all said?!"

"Yes," Lois turned towards him perturbed, "He's going to save the city no matter what." Her hazel eyes were bright now and full of joy instead of annoyance and anger like they were before.

Clark shook his head sadly in dismay, how could his partner be so blind? He had to prove to Lois now that he was right. If he didn't, all would soon be lost.

As Lois went to go congratulate Lex and introduce herself appropriately to his son Lionel, Clark made his way into one of the adjoining rooms of the building. He went up a flight of stairs, and into a room that had a magnificent desk, valuable pieces of art, a fire burning in a fireplace, and French doors leading out onto a wide balcony. Closing the door behind himself, he began to snoop around Lex Luthor's home.

Clark wandered over to a wall where several antique weapons were displayed. When he turned away from it he spotted a glass case with a bunch of ancient looking vials stored in it. It was lit with an eerie green light fixture.

Lightning flashed outside, reflected in the steady gaze of Clark Kent. Quietly, he measured his steps towards the glass case and peered at it closer.

Each vial was marked and filled with a yellow substance. Three of them were marked virus, and four of them were marked antidote. Locked in a case and kept as a prize possession like all of his other belongings, kept away from the world for no one to look at or use. Kept away like a savior to the people.

Carefully, using his eye-ray, he pulverized the security system, and then quietly opened the door to the case and slipped out the largest vial of the antidote liquid. He would need this much to create an inoculation for Lois, the Chief of Police, and to start making mass production for the rest of Metropolis. For free.

Then after slipping the vial into his pocket, he slowly backed away from the case, and slipped back out of the room and downstairs to the party. Thanks to Lois distracting Mr. Luthor, Clark was able to make his amazing debut as an investigative reporter.

At around 1 a.m. Clark took Lois home in a taxi cab.

However, he didn't go to bed right away himself, no, tonight, well technically this early morning….he decided that Metropolis and Mr. Luthor and his son should know that there was someone in this city that was intent on making things right again.

In his apartment, Clark changed out of his tux into his Superman suit. He paused in front of his bedroom mirror on the wall and wondered how the city and world was going to react when they'd all finally discover that there's a man who can fly and is intent on being a hero for them. Sighing inwardly, he realized it was now or never and very carefully slipped out of his open bedroom window and flew off into the night air.

An icy wind was blowing off the bay that over looked Lake Michigan and was used for cargos that shipped marketing supplies up and down the Wisconsin, Michigan, and Illinois borderline cities. Already, the dock area was chilled; soon, the wind would chill the entire city of Metropolis and would become windy in the other city of Chicago which was only a quarter of a mile away from the bustling city of Metropolis. A wispy mist blurred the streetlamps and softened the edges of the large cargo container, one of dozens of similar containers.

Jake, Heath, and Tom were finally working for the big cheese Mr. Lex Luthor and his 16 year old son Lionel, unloading boxes of unauthorized illegal medical equipment from across the lake from an even uglier tycoon from Michigan State, and it was about time. They had arrived at pier 69 at 1:15 in the morning, as Mr. Lex Luthor had insisted, and then waited around for another fifteen minutes until the huge overhead crane had swung a cargo container from the deck of a freighter onto the dock. The night was growing cold and Jake and Heath pulled the zippers of their jackets tighter. Suddenly headlights from an approaching limo lit the scene and the three stopped and for several seconds did not move.

Lionel Luthor got out of the limo and strode briskly to one of the unloaded boxes. He parted its flaps, reached inside, and brought out a stuffed puppy. He tossed it onto a nearby pile of puppies. Next to the pile of puppies was a pile of stuffed frogs.

"Cute," he commented.

He went back to the limousine that was parked on the curb and let himself into the backseat. His father, Lex Luthor was already there, a stuffed puppy in his lap.

"Looks fine out there," Lionel said. "So the puppies get sent straight to Metropolis Memorial Hospital as a cover up for the sick kids, but then get secretly transferred over to Lex Corps Medical Research Facility to be dissected open for their contents…."

"And the frogs go to my pent house as a pretend fundraiser for the orphans for Christmas," Lex Luthor said.

"What's the difference?"

"Ignorance is bliss, my son. Don't burden yourself with the secrets of mysterious unique people."

"More mysterious and unique than you, father?"

"Considerably to a point."

Outside, the work of unloading the containers continued beneath a single overhead lamp. Heath handed a box to Jake, who took it away down a narrow passageway between the stacked containers. Heath turned back to the darkness in the open container and was yanked inside.

A moment later, Jake heard a muffled groan. He set the box down and called, "Heath?"

There was no reply. Jake pulled a gun from under his jacket and nodded to Tom, who was coming from the docks.

Jake said, "Come on, if we don't…"

Tom drew his own gun and together they moved toward the open container.

Behind them, some red ray of light shot out above their heads and the overhead lamp sizzled and shattered. The two men jerked around, raising their weapons. Tom allowed his eyes to gaze above him to see where that blasted deadly ray shot had come from. His gaze went past the huge crane and noticed the figure floating in the sky, clothed by the darkness now. The figure moved in a rush of speed, to another spot behind them.

Tom blinked and whispered, "What the hell…."

The caped figure dropped behind them, and the red cape billowed out and enveloped just Tom.

And the figure and Tom suddenly levitated into the air and flew into the night sky behind the tall containers.

Jake ran, his arms pumping, the breath exploding from his mouth. He charged down the narrow passageway between the stacks of containers, came to a corner, slowed and rounded it, and raced toward the street.

A tall figure with a billowing long red cape descended on him from above and Jake screamed as he saw the determined look on the figure's face. The one he'd seen on cops before when they knew they were bringing justice. And Jake was scared of this figure's strength and powers. It was unlike anything he had ever seen or felt before!

In the limo, Lex Luthor and Lionel heard the scream. Lionel got out of the car, pulled an automatic from a shoulder holster, and allowed his dark gray eyes to scan the area, moving towards the docks.

"Where the hell are the lights?" he muttered.

He slipped into the passage between the containers and his foot hit something soft that moaned. He knelt, lit his lighter, and saw Jake, alive but tied up and with a piece of duct tape across his mouth.

Lionel ran to the limo, jerked open the door, and told his dad. "Call the headquarters. Get some more hired lugs and tell them to bring more guns."

Less than five minutes later, 10 men bolted up the steps from Lex Luthor's headquarters and puffing, ran to the docks, 3 blocks away. Lex Luthor, cradling a hand gun, waited for them beside the limo. He told them that somebody was around that did not belong and to find that person and kill him.

As they crept towards the containers, guns leveled ahead of them, the smallest of the gunmen whispered, "I wish we didn't have to do this."

His nearest companion said, "Shut up, Lucas! At least we're getting paid for this!"

"I didn't mean anything, Brian, only…."

"Shut up." Brian repeated, and then turned to a third man. "Any ideas on what we should do, Sam?"

"You heard the boss," Sam replied. "Find something and kill it."

"Maybe we oughta split up," Brian suggested.

"That ain't such a good idea…."

This time Sam said, "Shut up, Lucas."

They separated, Brian going into the passageway between the containers, Sam and Lucas circling around to the loading area, the other seven creeping around in vicarious places.

A tall figure fell on Brian and then Brian fell, unconscious.

Sam inched onto the dock, and saw nothing, and so therefore returned to where the stacks of containers were. The tall figure floated down from the passageway. A blue clothed arm flashed into view and yanked Sam back into the shadows.

Lucas saw Sam and the strange tall figure with an "S" on his chest vanish from where he had been standing forty feet away. He lifted his gun. The figure reappeared from the sky and Lucas fired at it. The bullet hit the figure right in the chest where his heart would be, he was sure of it, it was a dead-on shot. Only the figure never fell down dead. The bullet never seemed to have fazed him or even left a hole and blood on him. And the figure started to move faster towards him from between the crates. Lucas fired again and kept on firing until the hammer of his gun fell on an empty chamber.

He fumbled in his coat pocket for a fresh clip and, his voice edged with panic, shouted, "Who are you?"

He heard a low whisper as the figure descended upon him, "Superman."

Lucas felt himself get hoisted from the ground and then tossed like a rag doll to the ground, as he felt his eyes start to droop close from the force of impact; he felt his hands being pulled behind his back and tied together. And just before his eyes drooped completely, he felt a piece of duct tape get placed firmly over his mouth.

Lionel was still outside the stacks of containers and crates, his gun held loosely at his side. He was listening, hard, and he heard only the lapping of water and the distant rush of traffic. He went to his father's limo, opened a rear door, and poked his head inside.

"What the hell's going on?" Lex Luthor demanded.

"We've got a problem out there."

"Yeah, then I guess I'll solve it. If you can't get your kid to do it right, you have to step in, be the parent, and do it yourself as a demonstration."

Lex Luthor, gripping his hand gun by the stock, left the limo and he and Lionel went into the stacks and separated. Lex Luthor lifted his hand gun at waist level, aimed the barrel ahead of him, and curled a forefinger around the trigger.

He heard noises coming from the containers: grunts, groans, and the dull thud of blows. He just stood, hand gun half raised.

After fifteen minutes, Lionel rejoined his father and together, guns stuck out in front of them like the prows of ships, searched for and found their hired lugs. All tied up and with duct tape over their mouths. Half of them were unconscious. The ones that weren't were mumbling muffled freaked beyond belief. They did not bother to help their fallen employees.

"What do you think?" Lionel asked.

"I think we get the hell out of here until we know what's going on."

They returned to the limo and this time around Lex Luthor called for a second limo to bring him home separately in case they were followed. The limo soon arrived and Lex got in that one, while his son Lionel got into the original one that they had first arrived in. Lionel got in the back, tapped on the Plexiglas partition between the passenger's compartment and the driver's seat, and said, "Let's go."

There was no answer. Lionel opened the partition to look at the driver. The driver was missing.

The limo shook as something heavy landed on its roof. Lionel's head whipped around and he peered up out of the sunroof's window at the silhouette above him.

"What the hell are you?" Lionel murmured.

For a moment, there was stillness.

Then the glass sunroof shattered, and a strong hand reached down and pulled Lionel straight up out of it. "Hello, Lionel." the figure greeted the scared son of Lex Luthor.

And the scream that came from Lionel's mouth was never heard by his father as his father's limo peeled out away from the docks. Sometimes family couldn't be helped. And other times family had to be very discreet and look out for those who truly and only counted. And right now, Lex Luthor assumed that was himself. Lionel was young, he'd live.

Each of the four locks turned at one time, and Lois entered her apartment, an elegant home tastefully decorated with fine furnishings. She juggled her purse and her keys, like an expert city dweller. "Lucy?" she called. "Are you home?"

She better be, Lois thought firmly, as she stole a glance at the foyer clock. It was just 1:15 a.m., fifteen minutes after Clark Kent had taken her home from the banquet. Fifteen minutes after that farm boy hick had whisked her away from that charming billionaire and his son.

"Hey, sis!" came a bright voice from the bedroom. Lois's younger sister, who was staying with her for a while, came into the kitchen in her bathrobe as Lois set her purse down on the counter. "How did it go tonight at the banquet?" she asked, excitedly.

"It went great until farm boy dragged me away from Mr. Wonderful." Lois pronounced, taking her wallet out of her purse along with some vital makeup assets.

"Who's farm boy? He sounds interesting if he can drag you away from Mr. Wonderful." a sudden pause and then a puzzled look from her sister. "Who's Mr. Wonderful?"

"Farm boy would be Clark Kent, my new partner at the Daily Planet that Perry decided to dump me with. He has no sophistication except for the fact that he studied abroad, which astounds me since he lives on a farm." Lois ranted.

"Sounds like my kind of man," Lucy smiled, dreamily.

"Don't start! He's too old for you," Lois warned over her shoulder as she went and put her makeup assets away in a dresser drawer.

"But he's not too old for you, I'm assuming?" Lucy shot back.

Lois threw her sister a nasty glare. "No, he's not." she admitted. "But he dragged me away from Mr. Wonderful, that hick!"

"And you just let him? I thought you don't let anyone push you around, Lois? Unless you have inner hidden feelings for him?" Lucy pondered.

"I….do…not." Lois lied uneasily. She couldn't possibly have feelings for farm boy from Nowheresville. She couldn't possibly have feelings for Mr. Hardbody who hid it really well under loud ties and suits. She couldn't possibly have feelings for a guy who studied abroad and really knew how to dance….and massage. No, not for some charming smart-ass, could she possibly have feelings for. No possible way. Could she? Would she ever admit that she did?

"Uh-huh," said Lucy in a disbelieving tone, and hopping to sit up on a kitchen counter stool. "So, who's Mr. Wonderful?"

"Only the most rich man in the city! Mr. Lex Luthor, the self-made billionaire." Lois sighed, dreamily.

Lucy crinkled her nose. "Isn't Lex Luthor that guy you were trying to score an interview with?"

"Yes," Lois spat triumphantly. "And I nailed it; he calls it dinner for tomorrow night!"

"Is he a super guy? Because Lois, I know how the last guys were that you dated. And they weren't all that nice. Half of them, you found out later were master mind rich criminals and you had to send them all to the slammer. How do you know Lex Luthor won't be the same?" Lucy asked.

Lois didn't have a comeback for her sister. The truth was she didn't know. But a guy who was planning on saving the world from a deadly flu virus and owned half the city couldn't possibly be evil? Could he?

"Lois….I just want you to meet a super guy. One that'll treat you well and won't turn out to be a scumbag," Lucy told her gently.

Lois couldn't remain irritated when she saw her sister's sweet, hopeful face. Deep down inside, she too wanted to meet a super guy. She dreamed of romantic walks on the beach, of candlelit dinners and slow dancing in Mr. Right's strong arms. Experience had taught her though, that reality didn't work that way, and she wasn't convinced that super guys really existed anymore. She figured that super guys were all extinct. If they did exist, she was willing to bet they had all been taken, or were gay, or were mama's boys, or would want nothing to do with a woman like her.

Later that night/day Lois was sitting in bed propped up against her pillows and snuggled under her comforter, reading some papers with a pair of glasses on. Yawning, she threw the papers down, took off her glasses, and picked up the remote control. She was in the mood to watch one of her favorite tapes, "City of Angels". She fast-forwarded through the credits, and munched on popcorn as she watched.

As she watched the movie, she wondered why she couldn't feel that kind of passion. Would she ever find her true love? As Nicholas Cage began to nibble on Meg Ryan's neck, Lois pulled a tissue from beside her bed. With a little whimpering sound she wiped her eyes, blew her nose, and sniffled. Forbidden love between angels and mortals always had that effect on her.

Michael Evans, the chief of police, sipped coffee from a paper cup. Lousy coffee, already cold. He dropped the half-full cup into a trash container, buttoned his trench coat all the way up, and walked onto the dock to where a uniformed cop was shining his flashlight along six men whose backs were against a cargo container. All six were unconscious and bound with duct tape and nylon rope.

"Tell me," Michael said.

"We got a call, anonymous," the cop said. "Found an illegal medical equipment shipment in a container worth maybe five million on the street."

Michael gestured to the men on the ground. "These guys?"

"I'm not sure, Chief. Maybe Luthor's men?"

Lex Luthor was a guy that the chief of police was certain was a criminal, but just needed enough proof to bring him down.

Michael shrugged. "Does it matter? We'll never tie them to him anyway, they won't talk."

"I wouldn't be too sure of that," The cop pointed to a harbor light, normally used to help ships navigating the narrow entrance to the piers at night. Its beam had been redirected from the water and was shining the sky. Lionel Luthor, Lex's son, was strapped to it, his arms spread, with a sticky note pasted on his forehead.

"What's it say?" asked Michael.

"Courtesy of your friend, Superman." the cop read.

"Cut him down," Michael said, stunned.

He needed time to think. He started back toward his car. Two reporters from the Metropolis Star tried to block his way and a photographer rushed past him.

"Chief, Evans," one of the reporters called, extending a small tape recorder.

"Not now," Michael growled.

The reporter persisted. "What do think about what happened here tonight?"

Michael twisted towards the reporter and stated, "We have a superhero in our town that doesn't play by the rules of our law."

"What do you intend to do about this man or Superman that he claims to be?" the reporter asked.

"Find out who he is, how long he intends to be on our side and his reason for being here." was Michael's reply in a low growl.

He really needed some time to let this all sink in and to think. This was all very shocking to him!

A block away, he saw something blowing from the side of a building. A red flag? No, a man wearing a red cape, standing on a ledge, watching.

At that moment, a block away, in the fortress like stone edifice that housed Metropolis's Central Police Headquarters, officer Loeb was holding up the Metropolis Star, a paper that was in admirable competition with the Daily Planet, and shouting to the conference room full of captains, sergeants, and lieutenants, including the chief of police Michael Evans.

"Who is this Superman and why is he here? How did he get on the front page of the Metropolis Star instead of the Daily Planet right away?"

A captain named Simon said, "A boy claims he's here for truth and justice when he rescued him from falling off a bridge tonight."

"Some thought he looked more like a bird….or a plane….or even an angel." Officer Jacob added.

Michael Evans raised a hand to silence them all. "This Superman or whomever he is did deliver to us the son of one of the city's richest men, whom I'm positive is a crime lord."

Loeb was still stunned, "Yeah, but how long is he here to help us and what's his real purpose?"

That question, no one really had an answer to. Some hoped that this Superman was an answer to the crime upheaval and their prayers. Others still thought that this was some kind of hoax, and that maybe they all didn't have enough sleep. This question however did hang on all of their minds and was sure to keep hanging there for quite a while.

That day Clark entered the newsroom of the Daily Planet feeling like he was waltzing on cloud nine. He had just rescued a boy from falling last night, and had busted the son of one of the biggest crime lords in the city. People now knew the name of Superman. Well, most did. But that would be taken care of, he was sure. Now he was making a difference in the world with his gifts and nobody knew his alter-identity as Clark Kent! He could have sung "Ode to Joy"!

The newspaper headlines announced the astonishing event in different ways.

"Mysterious Phenomena from Space," declared the New York Times.

'C'est Magnifique!" exclaimed the Paris Voice.

The Daily Planet even heralded thanks to some pictures from Jimmy Olson, whom had been out and about that early in the morning thanks to a date. "Alien comes to Earth!"

The National Whisperer had a picture of a pregnant woman and a green alien wearing the Superman costume enclosed together with a heart, captioned, "I'm having the alien's baby!"

The Daily Planet was abuzz. The incredible story had everyone working overtime trying to figure out details about this Superman and get the answers that the editor-in-chief demanded. The editor himself was skeptical. "I still don't believe it," he said to Jimmy. "A man who flies!"

"Chief, it's all over TV," Jimmy insisted.

"Aw, Jimmy, don't believe everything you see on TV," his editor said in disgust. Then he turned towards Lois. "Lois, did you make any head wave with this yet? You're our best damn investigative reporter!"

"I thought I'd check him out tonight, Perry after my dinner interview with Lex Luthor that I have. Thought it might make some interesting connections, and I'm sure the interview will be interesting now that it deals with his son being doomed for jail." Lois assured her boss.

Lois had actually been quite stunned when she saw the picture taken by Jimmy Olson on the front page of the Daily Planet this morning when she woke up. She couldn't believe that the charming son of Lex Luthor that she had met at the banquet last night, was a crime lord. It was just unbelievable! And the most unbelievable thing about this was that she was just too stupid to realize it. Either that or gullible.

"Morning, Lois," Clark greeted happily.

"Clark, where've you been?"

"Around."

"Well," she began, grasping the sleeve of his coat and tugged him along after her. "Not that it's anywhere near as exciting as the stories you've covered on the Smallville Press," she jibed. "But I'm about to land an interview with possibly a man more astounding than Lex Luthor!" She had to admit, this Superman was incredibly good looking, after she had seen the pictures that Jimmy Olson had taken the night before. She wanted to enlarge one of them and hang it up on her bedroom ceiling or wall so that he was the first thing she'd see every morning.

"Oh, really?" Clark asked, interested. "Who?"

"Superman!" she gushed.

Superman? Clark thought, amused. Lois hadn't even really met Superman yet, and how come Superman/himself didn't know about this?

"Well, congratulations," he told her, bemused.

She stopped and faced him, her eyes aglow. "Oh, Clark, this is going to be the most exciting interview on the planet next to Lex Luthor's!"

"Sounds like this Superman's made quite an impression on you even though you've never met him before or have seen him up close yet," Clark said with a huge grin. And wondering how she planned to get in touch with this Superman. A scream for help might work, he was most definitely sure. He'd hone in on her voice any day.

"He did!" she sighed blissfully, and then she shot her partner a look. "You're not jealous that I have these two interviews with them, are you?" she asked coyly.

"Should I be?"

"Pul-leese!" she scoffed, turning to go on up to the elevator.

"Where are you going?" Clark asked, now bewildered.

"To my dinner interview with Lex," she beamed. It was only 10 a.m. and she still had lots to do to prepare herself for her dinner interview tonight. A facial mask, some spa treatments, going and buying herself a new dress or business suit, you know feminine vitals.

"You're still going to that interview with him?" Clark asked with alarm. "He may be dangerous, Lois. I mean, look at his son," Clark warned.

"Some of us don't care and have work to do, Clark." Lois told him. "I'd get started, if I were you on your work if you want to keep your job." She knew that Clark hated Lex Luthor with a passion, for what reason, she didn't know. She was going to go for her interview date with him, and find out just how wonderful this man was that she thought him to be. Would she be fooling herself like she had all those other times? Or would he be a super guy like this so-called Superman appeared to be that had come that she had yet to figure out how to meet?

Lois raced into the elevator and pressed a button, the doors soon closed, and in moments she was gone.

Clark found Perry, and told him he had a quick phone call to make. Perry told him it better be a connector to this Superman story and Luthor story. Clark promised him it would and then he too left.

And it would be a connection to both those stories and piece everything together. He just had to go and keep an eye on Lois in order to do that.

The fire burned merrily near the table set for two. The china was impeccable, the crystal was delicate, the candles were a very intimate touch, and the silverware was embossed with Lex Luthor's initials on the handles. Lois picked slowly through her delicious dinner. On the one hand, she was enjoying the romantic under-currents of the evening, but on the other hand she wasn't there for personal reasons, much.

"Your mother and father both died when you were fourteen correct?" she asked a simple question first, in a professional tone.

Lex looked steadily at the beautiful young woman for a moment. "Why don't I just have my office send you a biography?" He gestured with one hand for the hovering servant to refill their champagne glasses.

"Well, I don't want the standard line," she explained earnestly. "I mean, I want to know the real Lex Luthor. What makes you tick, what you strive for….are you surprised about what was found out about your son?"

"Well,…" Lex smiled a little, caught off guard, but not the least bit surprised that she would ask him such a question. "You ask the tough ones right away now don't you?" He leaned forward towards her enticingly.

Lois felt her face heat up. "Mmmmm…." she murmured as she jotted that down in the notebook along side the fine china. "I would've guessed you'd say shocked?"

"A little, surprised is more like it," he drawled. For being so stupid, he added mentally. How could his prodigal son get caught by a man who flies around in a red cape?

"Really?" Lois asked.

"Really," Lex answered her softly, and leaned forward towards her oval face.

He's going to kiss me, she though, as he slowly leaned towards her. She had been wondering if he would too, and was staring into his eyes as his head came nearer. She closed her eyes and felt his lips softly touch hers. She wanted to feel something special, but it was just a kiss, gentle and undemanding, sparking no fires within her.

"Lois?" Lex then said in fake concern, as Lois started to teeter out of her chair exactly as he predicted she would.

Suddenly, a wave of sick spinning dizziness swept over Lois's body, and before she knew it, she was blacking out.

Lex smiled to himself, as he stood over her fallen body on the floor. He had glossed the flu virus on his lips after inoculating himself with the antidote first. He needed someone to start the spread of the deadly virus around the city, he needed someone to be his Trojan horse, and who better than the Daily Planet's best investigative reporter. The Daily Planet would soon be known as the bearer of the disease, the enemy of the world that started it all. And he would be their savior in the end, if and only if the world gave him what he deserved in the bank for it.

He then bent down and loomed over her body and gently slapped her right cheek on her face to get her to come around, the fever is what had taken over her body at the moment, and soon the rest would come in minutes. He had to get her out of here, if his plan was ever going to work.

Lois's eyes slowly fluttered open. "Lex…..what happened?" she murmured, in a daze.

"You passed out, Lois. Are you feeling alright?" Lex gently, helped her sit up.

"I don't know," her voice she noticed sounded hoarse and scratchy. "Maybe I should go home." she said as she stumbled to her feet. Suddenly, she felt incredibly weak and light-headed.

"Would you like me to have one of my limousine drivers take you home?" Lex offered.

"No…no," Lois told him wearily. "I'll catch a cab."

"Alright," Lex smiled sweetly at her. "Good night, Lois. I hope you feel better soon."

"Good night," Lois barely called over her shoulder as she gathered up her things and headed out of his pent house.

The air, Lois felt, had become thin and stale to her as she breathed in shakily and unsteadily in and out. She stood on the sidewalk, exhaustingly trying to wave down a taxi cab. She felt weak and the back of her throat stung. She noticed that she felt really really warm, which was unnatural for her, and wondered if she wasn't coming down with something. Maybe something from the food she had? Couldn't be that virus that everyone was talking about, could it? No, not to her it couldn't have happened. But she was beginning to wonder if it did as she swayed on her feet. "Oh, God…." she whispered as she wished someone would come and get her away from all of this. If only she could lie down on her bed at home and rest for a while. Maybe then she could think. Where the hell was the taxi cab?

She wavered on her feet, and was about to pass out in the direction of the street just as a semi-truck was rolling by, when as if on cue; Superman came flying out of nowhere and caught her with one arm around her back, his other hand cradling her head gently, terribly worried. Had he gotten to her in time? What had happened up in Lex's pent house? Had she been submitted to that deadly flu virus?

Lois felt strong arms encircle her body as she started to black out again. She glanced up into her hero's face that had stopped her from crashing onto her face, and gasped at the handsome chiseled face that smiled down at her with real concern. He was dressed in blue, red, and yellow, she noticed before she passed out again. And she gasped in wonder as she blacked out, "Superman?"

Then her eyes drooped closed and she fell against Superman's strong, supportive body, her arms slipping around his neck as she did so.

Clark Kent, as Superman, hugged her tightly to him, feeling her slender lithe body against him, relieved beyond words that he had found her. However, he then noticed that her body felt extremely warm. Almost as if it were on fire! He carefully scooped her into his arms and allowed her head to rest weakly on his shoulder as he lifted off from the ground and flew her in the night sky back to his own apartment.

Superman flew in through his open bedroom window on the third floor of his apartment and then flew her to the couch, where he gently placed a pillow on one corner of the couch, and gently laid her down on it. He then raced back into his bedroom and removed from a cardboard container a hypodermic needle. She had to have been submitted with the deadly flu virus. It was the only thing that would make her temperature rise like it was so rapidly! He filled the needle with a milky fluid that was the antidote from one of the vials he had stolen from the Luthor house. He cleared the needle for air bubbles, and then returned to where Lois lay; now whimpering and moaning quietly from her rising fever. He removed her jacket and rolled up her left sleeve of her maroon colored, deep neck plunged line blouse.

"I hope this won't hurt," he said. He jabbed the needle into her biceps, and fed the fluid into her body.

He stepped an inch back and watched. Within a few minutes, she stopped her whimpering; her breathing slowed and became deep and regular, and the beads of sweat that were on her forehead disappeared.

"I think we're home free," he said.

Lois's eyes fluttered open and widened. Superman knew she was seeing him clearly for the first time. Her eyes then took in her surroundings, and he realized she was noticing that she was at Clark Kent's apartment instead of some hospital or even her own apartment.

"How do you feel?" Superman asked.

"I'm at Clark's apartment?" Lois's voice was hoarse yet a little.

Superman was silent.

"Why did you bring me here?"

"If I hadn't, you might be dead right now. You were poisoned with the deadly flu virus. I was keeping some of the antidote here with Clark because I trust him, and because I knew Lex Luthor hadn't given it to any of the hospitals yet and doesn't have much intention to either."

"Am I still?" Lois was referring to being poisoned by the deadly flu virus.

"No. Your left arm probably hurts a bit where I injected the antidote. How much do you remember?"

Lois frowned. "I was eating dinner and interviewing Lex Luthor. I was asking him about his son, Lionel and with him being in jail and how he felt about it…..Lex Luthor…he kissed me…he must have done this to me. Why?" she swung her legs around and began to stand. Her voice sounded betrayed and hurt. So much for Mr. Wonderful, she thought bitterly. I'm a fool again. Then she realized what her expression on her face must have looked like and she went right down to reporter mode, "The police. I have to tell them. We have to tell them…."

Her knees buckled. Superman caught her and put her back on the couch.

"Relax," he said. "I'll take care of it. You need to rest. I'll get Clark Kent to watch you. He went to go take out the trash."

Figures, Lois thought. The story of the century was unveiling and Clark Kent was gone. Wait, Superman had said he trusted Clark Kent and knew him. Clark had kept the secret that he knew Superman away from her that morning and that he knew how to contact him so she could've lined up an interview with him?! Superman started to levitate and move towards Clark's bedroom where the open window was.

"Wait!" Lois called beginning to sit up, but then felt a little weak and lied quickly back down. Superman immediately rushed to her side.

Lois stared at Superman's chiseled features, his eyes warm and radiant, his lips curved in a smile. "How do I find you? Should I just ask Clark?"

"I'll be around," he told her mysteriously and reassuringly with another gorgeous smile.

Lois watched him slowly leave through Clark's bedroom window, and vanish into the sky with a flash of color and a whooshing sound.

Minutes later, the locks turned on the wooden door, and Clark Kent entered his apartment building in a flannel jacket, gray t-shirt, and jeans. He saw Lois lying on his couch and took comfort in the fact that she was safe for now and that he had stopped Lex's plan of having Lois spread the deadly flu virus. Now he just had to get him for it.

"Clark?" Lois called faintly from inside the living room, having seen him finally enter.

Clark ran to her side. He was no longer Superman; he was Clark Kent, gazing at a person he had come to meet and marvel. He stood there motionless beside her for a moment, as he looked down at her and she looked up at him with those tender hazel eyes of hers. His deep brown eyes expressing everything he was feeling. Do I love her?

The answer was almost certainly yes. But to tell her how he felt would be to assume certain obligations – of trust, of fidelity – and to abandon what he had begun to create. That, or subject her to continual danger because his enemies would eventually figure out that she was his girl.

"Hey," he greeted her as he bent down and gently stroked her hair. "I just saw Superman outside on my way back in, he told me everything. Are you okay?"

"I think so, thirsty." she replied, in a little croaky voice. Apparently, even though the antidote had cleared the deadly virus from her system, she was still feeling a little weak from the effects.

Lois watched Clark go to his kitchen and pour her a glass of water from his tap. He went to one of his kitchen drawers and fished out a straw and placed it in the glass. Then he came back into the room with it and brought the glass to her lips so that she could take a sip from it.

The cold water soothed the scratchiness in her throat, but it did nothing to soothe the ache in her heart of her betrayal from Lex Luthor and finding out that he wasn't so Mr. Wonderful. It also did nothing to soothe her from knowing that Clark had hid something from her. The fact that he knew Superman and that Superman trusted him. Especially, when he knew that she wanted the first exclusive interview with him after her horrible one with Lex Luthor now.

"What are we going to do?" Lois asked, referring to the flu illness that Lex Luthor had tried to kill her with and spread to the city.

"I have some of the antidote, thanks to Superman, that he took from Lex Luthor. One is for the police chief to inoculate himself with and the other is supposed to be used for mass production for the people of Metropolis if Lex does figure out another way to spread it."

"Mass production?" Lois was still confused. "But Lex had said at the banquet…."

"He lied." Clark told her.

Just like you did about not knowing something, Lois added mentally. Humph! All men were the same. Lying, sweet-talking womanizers who think they hold all the power in the universe. When was she ever going to meet a super guy? Wait. There was Superman. She wondered if Superman was anything like the mortal guys here on earth.

Clark gently set the glass down on his coffee table behind him.

When he turned back to her though, she had a scrunched up look on her face.

"What?" he asked concerned.

"You lied to me." she stated.

"What makes you say I did that?" Clark asked, wondering when he had lied to her that day.

"Either you know what I mean or you don't."

"About that I know Superman?"

"Yes, and you lead me to believe back at the Daily Planet that you didn't even know him when he was first mentioned on the front of newspapers world wide and here you've been helping him."

"True." he mumbled.

"I wouldn't have expected that from you because we're partners."

Lois looked and sounded hurt and even more betrayed.

Clark's pedestal was suddenly downsized, a pedestal he didn't even realize Lois had begun to place him on in the work force.

"Lois, I had to…..I had no choice." Clark tried to explain.

"Why?" her question was simple.

"He told me not to tell anyone that he was here in Metropolis yet. He wanted to come out on his own. He wanted his secret kept safe from the world." At least, that's exactly what he wanted to do. He was both men; Clark Kent and Superman.

"H-mmmm…." Lois murmured. Safe, she had forgotten what that felt like. Well, until she had been in Superman's arms at least. Being wrapped in his embrace when she passed out had been almost indescribable. Heaven is what she wanted to call what it felt like, or some safe harbor in a bay.

Clark noticing the look on her face was now a saddened frown, he asked. "So, how mad are you at me for not telling you?"

"I'm not mad." she stated. After all, a reporter did have to protect their sources, but still…..

Clark was now taken aback, "Excuse me?"

"I'm not mad at all." Lois repeated again.

"Lois, this is not a time to really hold back. I mean, considering what you've all been through so far with this story and everything."

"I'm not."

"Then what?" Clark asked, confused about her emotions. A woman's emotions were like a bewildering but exhilarating roller coaster to him.

"I'm hurt," Lois whispered.

"Oh," was the only word that Clark was able to mouth.

"I'm really, really, really hurt." Lois told him, her lower lip beginning to quiver.

"Which is going to be worse than mad, isn't it?" Clark asked.

Lois twisted her head away from him towards the cushions. "Good night, Clark." she said shortly.

She closed her eyes then in an attempt to make Clark go away.

Clark, feeling like a major maxi-jerk but knowing that he had no reason to feel like a jerk about because it was his alter-ego, gently caressed her head with his fingers one time and whispered, "Good night, Lois." and headed off to his own bedroom.

Once inside his bedroom, he closed his big wooden bedroom door and sighed heavily. Deep down, Clark felt like he was now carrying the entire weight of the world on his shoulders now that his superhero alter-ego was known. Lois was upset with him, and for some odd reason this was hurting him more than the story was that they were working on about Lex Luthor. He couldn't quite place his finger on it as to why either. I mean, she had told him that what they had was strictly business, however, the way she had placed her arms around him when she was passing out and had looked at him when he was Superman…..that was more than just business. The way she had held him…..a powerful feeling/emotion/connection had compassed them both. It felt….magical to him. She had to have felt it too, right? How could she have not felt something that powerful, that overwhelming?

Thinking this now, he suddenly felt a surge of protection for her and quickly changed into his Superman outfit. It was time to let Lex Luthor know that he was on to him and was going to stop him.

With determination ripping through him, he levitated into the air and with a great whoosh! – Left his apartment out his bedroom window.

When Clark had left his living room, Lois turned her head back towards the spot where Clark had been kneeling. She couldn't believe that Clark had lied to her. She realized it was for a good reason, but her heart hurt nonetheless. Would she always be treated like this by the male species? She'd spent all her years running from loneliness; running from getting hurt again by men. She loathed pain but somehow managed to always find herself in it. She closed her eyes eventually in deep thought and wondered if she'd ever find that perfect someone. Her thoughts eventually drifted to the handsome man she had met tonight that could fly. Superman! And she began to have wild fantasies about him that lasted the whole night of him flying her to some exotic island and being protected in those strong, warm arms of him forever.

Clark, wearing the Superman costume that was starting to feel a bit more comfortable now, stood on the wall of the balcony outside Lex Luthor's penthouse office that evening, his hands on his hips. The billionaire mastermind was sitting at his desk reading a book.

Lex, getting the prickling sensation that he was being watched, turned around. He did a double-take when he saw the bright costume, surprised and even awed, then pressed the button that opened the security door.

Clark, now as Superman, jumped down lightly from the wall and approached him.

Lex greeted his guest with applause and a jaunty salute with one hand. "An astonishing debut, Superman." he congratulated. "For placing my horrid son in jail on the account of illegal medicine supplies." He carefully placed his book down on the desk, face-up. "So, to what do I owe this honor?" he asked as he stood up, feeling supremely satisfied that this being, whoever he was, had naturally sought out Lex Luthor, the most important man in the city.

"I came to tell you I know who you are," Superman told him.

Lex's smile vanished, but he assumed a carefully blank expression.

"Who you really are," Superman clarified, "and what you're up to." Superman crossed his arms over his chest. "I suppose on its face it was a good plan. Destroy your only competitor and have your own research lab take over the illness, not only would you make billions from the patents of the vaccines developed for the antidote, but you would also be the savior of the city of Metropolis if not the world."

"Well, it's an interesting theory, Superman, but I'm afraid that's all it is, unless you have proof," Lex said smoothly, apparently undaunted and unintimidated. He moved around his desk to get his leather jacket, putting it on.

"You infected Lois Lane with it," Superman saw no discernible reaction.

"And how did you come across her?" Lex asked, curious. Maybe he should've definitely taken her home in one of his limousines and just have her start infecting the rest of the city when she'd go to work the following morning. And maybe he shouldn't have given her such strong of a dose right away that would attract attention.

"That's my business," Superman stated firmly.

"So you've become both my judge and executioner with this now?" Lex asked as he went to the mirror to examine his appearance.

"Like any other citizen of this planet, I must obey the law, I am not above it. You, it seems, believe you are."

"I hold a certain position in this city," Lex reminded him arrogantly, getting and lighting a cigar.

"Yes, and there is nothing that would please me more than to see you dethroned and behind bars like any other common criminal because I'm positive that those aren't the only skeletons of plans you have in your closet. And that day will come," Superman promised.

"Well, I trust not," Lex said confidently. "But as they say, let the games begin!"

Superman eyed him coldly and then turned to leave. "Oh, and one more thing, if you ever need to find me…." he said, rising a few feet above the balcony's ledge and turning to look down at Lex Luthor. "…..all you have to do is look up." With that parting shot he soared away, leaving Lex staring up after him furiously. He had the sinking feeling that his plan was about to be thwarted. Time to find Lois, again, and finish the job without any loose ends, was what crossed Lex's mind at that moment.

Lois was curled up on the sofa with her arms tucked closely around the pillow Clark had placed under her head earlier before. She woke when the morning sunlight came in through the immense windows of Clark's apartment and fell onto the coffee table where she discovered her glass of water no longer sat. She was rumpled from sleeping in her clothes from dinner at Lex's which had turned out bad, and felt awfully stiff from being in such an uncomfortable position for so long.

She turned her head sleepily, and saw Clark standing there already ready for work in his usual suit and tie, watching her and holding a breakfast tray. "Clark?"

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to wake you," Clark said, thinking that she looked so cute when she woke up. "I had just made you breakfast and was going to leave it on the coffee table for you and head to work, but…"

"But?" she looked at him blearily.

"I was worried about you and how you'd be when you woke up from what happened last night after Superman inoculated you." he explained setting the tray down on the coffee table as gently as possible without jarring the stuff.

She gazed at the tray that Clark had thoughtfully made for her and smiled. On it was a piece of toast with peanut butter and honey on it, a mug of cappuccino, a glass of orange juice, and a slice of cantaloupe.

"Thank you," she said, with a tone of actual belied gratefulness. "I'm alright, I suppose. Just having a hard time believing that Lex Luthor was capable of doing such a thing to me."

Clark took a seat next to her on his couch and longed to place a comforting arm around her but didn't because he didn't want to offend her. They weren't that close, yet.

Lois picked up the mug of cappuccino and brought it to her lips. "Nice," she said, after having a sip.

"French vanilla," he told her. "My mother used to make me French vanilla cappuccino homemade when I was feeling bad and to help wake me up in the morning. Years later I had it at a Starbucks in New York City, but it never tasted as good."

She smiled along with him. "When I was a kid, Lucy and I used to try and bake cookies together that were from my grandma's recipes. We'd bake all day around the holidays and have flour fights….only…..the cookies never turned out quite like Grandma's. In fact, they actually turned out burnt or worse when we made them."

Clark smiled but felt sympathy for her baking troubles, he watched her gaze travel down to his carpet. That's when he realized that not once did she mention her mother. Which made Clark prompt, "You've been through a lot, haven't you?"

"No, family is perfect." Lois whispered, and then sighed. "My parents divorced when I was young. So my sister and I did lots of things together to pass the time so we wouldn't think about it. Baking around the holidays was one of them."

"I'm sorry," Clark said.

"Don't be," she told him and then paused, "You know, I never thought I would say this, Clark, but you and I have something in common."

"What's that?" Clark asked, daring to hope.

"You and I both have wonderful memories of spending time with one of our family members."

Clark could only smile with her, the yearning in his heart so clear on his face and in his warm brown eyes, if only she would look at him.

Clark and Lois bustled into the Daily Planet hours later that morning to a very uptight boss.

"Great shades of Elvis! There you finally are! Where have you two been? Have you been covering that Luthor and Superman story? Lois, how did your interview go with Lex? You know that if our newspaper wants to stay on top that we have to keep with status and information here people!"

Perry followed them around the newsroom as they headed towards their desks. Clark had taken Lois back to her apartment beforehand so she could change into something more professional for work than the feminine scandalous outfit she had worn on her dinner/interview with Lex.

"Don't worry, Chief, we have everything under control." Lois told him.

We? This was the first time Perry White had ever heard Lois use the word we when it came to a colossal story.

"All right, CK!" Jimmy exclaimed, nodding his approval that Clark had gotten in with Lois.

Lois glared at Jimmy and then continued. "The Luthor interview was a let down. Basically, he told me his biography and had nothing to say about his son except that he was surprised at what had happened to him. On the other hand, it wasn't a total flop! Lex actually had the nerve to inject me with the flu virus and use me as a pawn to spread it."

"Lois…" Perry gasped, and would've said more but Clark cut him off.

"Luckily, Superman was in the area and took her to my place so she wouldn't spread it. He had given me the antidote long beforehand, and gave me a few inoculations to use for certain people and mass production. He found out that Luthor is a criminal and has no intention really of giving the antidote to people except to those that can give him millions."

"Great!" Perry congratulated the two, pleased that they had managed to cover both the Lex Luthor story and the Superman one. "We can go to print with that!"

"Uh….." Lois contradicted. "Not quite yet, Chief."

"What? Why? We have a newspaper here that we have to run people!" Perry White exploded.

"We need more facts or proof to bring Lex down, Chief. Otherwise if we print that, he could take us to court for false information and it'd be our word against his."

"You have the antidote, right? That's proof! And what about a sample of Lois's blood that was infected as proof of the virus?" Perry shot back.

"He could say that Superman was a thief and stole it even though he was just borrowing it and using it as evidence that could help with the story, and that Lois could've suddenly just come down with the virus from anywhere." Clark explained.

"Oh….well technically the virus and antidote are both legally in Lex's hands. How do you propose to go about finding more evidence?" Perry then inquired.

"On it, Chief. Don't worry, we'll figure something out." Lois reassured him.

Perry threw his hands up in the air in frustration because they had nothing to print this morning. "You'd better because both of your jobs are on the line here." he paused once he realized that everyone else in the newsroom was staring at them.

"Asses and elbows! The newspaper doesn't go to sleep people! Get me the information that I need!" Perry bellowed, as he stormed off to his office and placed his fingers against his neck to feel for a heart rate. Damn blood pressure, he cursed silently. Damn newspaper, they're all going to run me eventually into the ground. And those were his last impression-like words he said to them for that day as he left them to do their work.

A gleam in Lois's eyes appeared a plan occurred to her. If Superman could easily sneak in and grab some of the antidote, than her and Jimmy could easily sneak in, take some pictures and go through some of Lex's personal computer files to find just enough incriminating evidence on him to place him in jail. She wanted this byline for this story herself. After all, it was originally going to be her story anyway before Clark Kent joined the Daily Planet. Certainly, Clark wouldn't mind right?

When Perry White left, she turned to Clark. There was one thing she wanted to say to Clark before she went and carried out her clever plan. "Clark, I just, well, I wanted to thank you for all your help last night with allowing Superman to take me to your place and keeping me safe."

"I'm glad everything worked out," he said modestly.

She sidled closer to him almost seductively, her smile vanished, and her voice dropped to a whispering tone as if she was trying to hide something. "Good bye, Clark. I'm going to work from home."

Clark smiled, thinking that she just needed her rest, but then he detected a fast beat in her pulse with his super hearing. She was hiding something!

"Goodbye, take care, Lois." Clark told her as he watched her walk up the stairs towards the elevator, get inside, and press the button. The doors closed and the elevator seemed to be heading in a downward motion away from the third floor of the Daily Planet. Clark had a gut tuition feeling though, that Lois had other plans in mind. He'd better follow just in case.

He slipped out towards the back end of the room where the janitor's closet/storage room was to change into Superman.

He started to undo his top two buttons on his work shirt, and prepared himself to step up onto the bench that was beneath the window, but just as he unlatched it he heard Perry's voice outside the room.

"Kent?"

He quickly turned and sat down on the window ledge, rebuttoned his two top buttons, he placed his feet on the bench, and arranged his hands in a casual pose. Perry opened the door and peered in.

"Oh Kent, there you are. I was wondering if you had gone with Lois on that case, but they told me that she had gone home."

"Yes sir."

Perry came further into the room, eyeing Clark. What on earth was the boy doing in this dusty, cluttered room of cleaning supplies? "They told me you were in here though."

"Yes sir," Clark said again, not sure what else he could say. What if Perry asked him why he was in here?

"Are you making a call privately on your cell phone to see once about a tip on the case?" Perry asked.

"Actually, yes, I was just about to, sir," Clark replied. He belatedly realized that the supply room wasn't exactly the most comfortable or private place to do that.

"Oh….Are you looking for something in here besides doing that?"

"No sir, not really," Clark said, truthfully enough.

"Umm, well, I guess I'd better be getting back," Perry said, not sure whether Kent was completely sane or not.

"Yes sir," Clark repeated politely.

"When are you coming out of this closet/storage room?"

"Soon, sir. Very soon." Clark stood up and put his hands in his pockets, hoping to look comfortable and casual and desperately wishing his boss would hurry up and leave.

Perry White turned and left, but he couldn't resist turning to look back once. A gifted writer, that Clark Kent, but talk about strange!

Jimmy danced alongside Lois after she had found him on the second floor by the copier machine. She now strode purposefully along the corridor from the back way in at Lex's penthouse that had no security cameras visible. "I guess I don't need to point this out to you, Lois, but this is dangerous." He got in front of her to block her way, hoping to her to calm down and think. When Lois rushed off in a fury because of some guy doing something to her that she didn't like, she often got herself into sticky situations.

"Fine," she said brushing him aside. "You go back to writing Wedding Engagement Announcements. I'll grab the scoop of the century by myself and bust Lex for being the mastermind criminal he is." She stopped in front of a French door with glass panes, and they both peered through them. The area was enormous, with a magnificent desk in it, valuable pieces of art, a burning fireplace, and several glass cases with intricate objects in it. On the elaborate desk was an efficient laptop computer. Geeze, what room in Lex's place didn't have a fireplace, Lois thought sarcastically.

"How do we get inside?" Jimmy asked.

"I'm not sure," Lois frowned, trying to think.

On a hunch and wondering whether or not it work after all these years, Jimmy pulled out a thin wire from his pocket, and deftly picked the lock. "You're amazing, where'd you learn to do that?" she asked him as the door slowly swung open.

"Reform school," Jimmy replied, and then gave her a sharp look. "It was a bum rap."

She accepted that readily enough, far more interested in trying to find more evidence that she could use against Lex Luthor.

"Your friend Lois Lane is here," Ms. Candace said into the phone as she watched Lois and Jimmy move carefully around the room that contained the antidote for the virus, along with the virus, and some important computer files on a hidden camera monitor that Lex had decided to display in that room since he reported having a couple of vials of the antidote missing.

"Lois, this is so cool!" Jimmy exclaimed, as he gazed at some of the valuable pieces of art that were encased in some glass cases.

"Shh-hhh…." Lois placed a finger to her lips. "You go snap some pictures of the vials of the antidote and the virus. I'll go and download some of his files off of his computer onto my USB drive."

"I think it's time we eliminate her for good instead of just infecting her with the virus again," Ms. Candace continued.

"Kill off the Daily Planet's star reporter? I'm surprised at the suggestion, Ms. Candace," Lex said coolly into his cordless phone as walked carefully towards his office where Jimmy and Lois both were. But he was pleased with the idea. Despite the fact that he found Lois Lane to be astoundingly beautiful, he was beginning to find her a bit of a troublemaker. He wore jodhpurs and a polo shirt, with his coat stylishly draped over his shoulders, having just come back from a challenging game of polo. In his left hand he carried his riding crop and helmet. Lex shrugged his coat off, knowing that even though it would fall to the floor in the hallway, eventually one of his assistants or housekeepers would come and pick it up.

"She suspects, Lex. And if they look at your files they'll not only suspect you but they'll suspect me! You never said that I would be implicated."

"She lacks evidence. Evidence! It'd be her word versus mine if we went to court. And besides who's her witness that she got injected with the virus except for that bastard Superman? And who would ever believe a newly arrived superhero alien anyway?" Lex put her on the speaker phone part of his cordless. "Evidence is sometimes all that separates the criminal from the successful businessman. Or woman. I told you I'd take care of it though, didn't I?"

"Yes, you did," Ms. Candace admitted, even though she wasn't sure if she should still trust her boss.

"You'll be paid well, Ms. Candace. Rest assure that, my dear. Now, let me handle this will you? I have a hotel in Manhatten that you can stay in for a while until you hear from me again, if you're so worried. Would you like to go now?" Lex asked, trying to keep his employee calm.

"Yes," she immediately told him.

"Very well. I'll have a flight set up for you in minutes." Lex reassured her. He pulled out a cigar from his breast pocket. I snipped off the end of the cigar and terminated the conversation with. "I promise you there will be no implications of you. No loose ends."

Despite the fact that Lex was a master mind criminal, he cared about his beautiful female employees. He always felt it was important to treat certain women right. For women were vital for the future. They produced the future.

Ms. Candace hung up slowly, and a moment later opened a drawer in her desk. She pushed aside a silk scarf and pulled out her gun. She was making sure she was getting out alive.

In the hallway, Lex disposed of his polo gear on the floor and opened a side glass cabinet that was by a portrait of his great grandfather. In it was a .45 colt pistol. He would take care of things alright. He just wanted the rest of his antidote back first. And the only way to do that would be to get to Superman. And the only way to get to Superman was through Lois Lane and her partner Jimmy.

Jimmy followed Lois around the immense interior of the room. He paused to take some pictures with his camera of the vials of the antidote and the virus that were in the glass case across from the desk with the computer on it. "Wow, look at all of this!" he exclaimed as he snapped pictures.

"Take pictures of each vial of the antidote and the virus, Jimmy. We'll have them enlarged later for evidence." Lois left Jimmy to do his picture taking and wandered over by the computer on the desk. "I'm going to hack into his files. We need as much evidence as we can get." Quickly, she loaded her USB drive into the hard drive, and began zipping through files on Lex's computer. Amazing really how he had all of this information on viruses and whatnot. You would almost think he was a medical researcher that was trying to save the world! But Lois knew differently now. She understood that Lex Luthor was nothing more than a mastermind criminal who was greedy and ruthless right down to his core. Of course, all of that was hidden with a magnetic charismatic charm, but who wouldn't use that as a disguise?

"We should go back and interview Ms. Candace again. I'm positive she knows more than what she told Clark and me. The way she looked at Clark…..very unprofessional." Lois continued.

A hand clamped over Jimmy's mouth abruptly with a cloth. Lex had placed some of the flu virus on the cloth and had now infected Jimmy with it by inhalation. He then rendered the young man unconscious and left him on the ground.

Lois, over by the computer and totally focused on the screen, thought she heard something. "Jimmy? Jimmy?" she repeated not even looking up from the computer screen. Hearing no answer, she unplugged her USB drive, and then she got up to look for him. She had just noticed Jimmy's fallen body, when suddenly she was attacked from behind. She caught the man's movement just in time and whirled around, swinging her purse and belting him across the face with it. She followed that up with a hard kick to his midsection, and drove him to the ground by crashing her purse on his head again.

To her dismay though as ran to Jimmy's side to help him the man stood up to reveal his face. Lois's back was turned away as she shook Jimmy's limp body. "Jimmy? Jimmy, get up!" she urged, but he was unconscious and couldn't hear her.

"Very impressive, Lois. These days a woman has to know self defense." Lex's voice suddenly boomed eerily behind her.

Lois turned and found herself facing the wrong end of a handgun, and Lex stepped forward more from the shadows of his room. She knew she was caught.

"Too bad it won't save you though ….or your friend." Lex's smile was menacing and evil. With alert ears, she heard the sound of the hand gun cock.

Lex rolled the last of his money out of the vault, putting the still unconscious and Jimmy and the nosy reporter inside. Jimmy lay on the floor now whimpering softly from the flu virus attacking the inside of his body. Lois stood brazenly before Lex, her arms crossed over her chest in an unconscious imitation of Superman. No matter how hard her heart was thumping, she wasn't going to show any fear.

Lex was smug. "This should work out perfectly. Jimmy's infected body will infect the rest of the city by autopsy. I can just see tomorrow's headline: 'Kid Found Dead Infected with Deadly Virus, Along with Daily Planet star reporter'." He turned to leave, realizing that Lois was probably wondering how she was going to be dead unless he shot her because she had been inoculated by Superman, so he gave her a parting shot. "Oh by the way, did you know this room is airtight? With the door shut I'd say there's about two minutes worth of air here, so if I were you I'd say my prayers."

"I'll say one for you, but it won't help," Lois said defiantly.

Lex blew Lois a kiss and said cheerfully before slamming the door shut with a laugh. "I'll be seeing you."

Lois rushed to it, but there was no way to open it from within. They were trapped.

Clark Kent by this time and had delivered the antidote to the police chief to inoculate himself with and to start creating mass production, he also explained Luthor's plan, and handed him the incriminating evidence that he had already found on him. After that, he had left in a rush in search of Lois.

The police now surrounded Lex's penthouse with a dozen squad cars. They now had enough evidence to arrest him as a criminal lord. A SWAT team had already arrived, and the snipers were scoping out nearby buildings to find good positions. Another SWAT team truck was just coming. Chief Michael Evans coordinated the placement of vehicles and officers to create a cordon around the penthouse.

Ms. Candace had by this time escaped to the airport before the cops had even arrived. She was surprised that Lex hadn't done anything to stop her but then again, Lex was always nice to his female employees. Still, as she sat on her 747 flight on her way to the hotel Lex had suggested tingles of worriment raced through her body.

Lois grunted as she realized it was futile to waste any more effort on the door. "I'll grab the scoop of the century," she quoted herself, disgusted. When would she learn to look before she leaped? Acting on instinct and impulse had its merits, but it sure got her into a lot of tricky situations.

Jimmy by this time had groggily come to. He was feverish though and his face was flushed bright red with small beads of sweat rolling down his forehead.

"We have to get out of here and save you in order to save the city," Lois told him as she noticed that he had finally woken up.

"Maybe we should get Superman," Jimmy hoarsely whispered before he broke out in a series of heavy coughs. Lex had infected Jimmy with a stronger dose of the virus, which made Lois worry about herself despite the fact that Superman had inoculated her.

"I don't even know how to contact him. He's just sort of always been around," Lois informed him, referring to the time she had taken ill herself and he had just suddenly shown up and came to her rescue. And before when he had stopped the shipment of illegal medical equipment.

"Try calling him," Jimmy rasped out before he passed out again on the ground.

Gaining courage because she knew she'd be using up their air supply, she began to call for him. "Superman? Superman? Superman!"

One of the front doors of Lex's penthouse opened. "Look! The door's opening!" and officer cried out. No one appeared at first, but overzealous officer began shooting nonetheless.

"Hold your fire!" Chief Michael Evans ordered furiously. "He hasn't even come out yet!"

Suddenly, a very shocked and surprised Lex Luthor came out of the building, closing the door behind him with a sack of money in his hands and his briefcase.

"Damn it!" Lex muttered, and started firing his hand gun at them, wishing he would've brought an M-16 with him instead on his escape.

The cops leaped for cover behind squad cars, and began to pull their revolvers out. They took a few shots at Mr. Lex Luthor, but they soon discovered that Lex was pretty fast at dodging bullets. Some wondered if he hadn't dealt with this before.

Inside the vault, Lois was feeling very light-headed as the oxygen grew thin. "Superman," she gasped desperately, her plea for help so faint now that she was afraid he'd never hear her.

Superman by this time had honed in on Lois's cry for help, but had other important matters to handle first. He descended slowly feet first. The police were still under cover behind their squad cars as sporadic gunfire from Lex's gun continued at them.

"Drop your weapon, Mr. Luthor! We have you surrounded! You're under arrest." Chief Michael Evans commanded. Lex, however, had no intentions of going to prison. He abandoned his bag of money though on the steps and tried to make a run for it. He didn't make it very far, however, before he was confronted with the imposing figure in blue and red.

"Nice to see you again, Luthor," Superman said with a grin. Lex desperately raised his gun and fired at him point blank. Superman glanced down at the spot where the bullet had ricocheted off his chest, and looked up with a pleasant smile, as though inviting the man to give it another try. Lex shot twice more, but the bullets merely bounced off that blue-clad chest.

Deciding that something or someone could be damaged by those deflected bullets, Superman reached out and grabbed the gun from Lex Luthor. With a cocky expression, he mangled it to a twisted wreck in his hands, throwing it down on the ground. Then he grasped Lex firmly, turned him around, and marched him over to the police.

"Where's Lois Lane?" Superman asked, knowing that he had heard her voice come from someplace within this area.

Chief Michael Evans however replied, "Lois? Is she here?"

Superman was instantly worried. He knew Lois; she had come here, he was positive. But if the police hadn't seen her as a hostage…..He listened hard, tuning out the sounds of the police and the crowds outside the building that had now gathered near the building, concentrating on hearing Lois's voice on a distinct spot in that vicinity.

The air in the vault had grown thin and stale, and Lois knew she wouldn't remain conscious for much longer, but she tried to hold out for Superman. She knew she could get a hold of him and he would come and save her. She just knew it! "Superman….where are you?" she moaned. As if responding to her cue, her hero crashed through the immense wall of the vault, sending concrete flying and dust swirling through the air, followed by the police officers.

The police officers saw Jimmy and ran to him, quickly inoculating him with the antidote as a hunch, which not only saved him but the rest of the city.

Superman hurried to Lois just as she wavered on her feet. He caught her with one arm around her back, his other hand cradling her head gently, terribly worried. Had he gotten to her in time?

Lois felt the fresher air on her face, filling her lungs, and the light-headedness began to fade. She gratefully leaned against Superman's strong supportive body, slipping her arms around his neck. He had come!

Superman hugged her tightly, enjoying the feel of her slender arms around him, her lithe body against him, relieved beyond words that he had found her in time. When she released him, he gently scooped her into his arms. She weakly rested her head on his shoulder as he carried her out of the vault.

As they emerged into the sunshine, and Lois breathed in deeply, she focused back on what had happened to her beforehand. "Superman, Jimmy's still inside. You have to help him!"

"Already taken care of," Superman assured her, realizing that she was now feeling fine. He then cocked his head towards the police that were helping a much better feeling looking Jimmy Olson back up on his feet. He set her gingerly down on her feet once they were at least a block away from all of the commotion.

"That's the second time you've saved my life," she told him gratefully, her hands resting on his chest.

"Glad to be of service," he said with a smile, brushing a stray lock of hair from her face with one gentle finger.

"I think, considering the fact that I'm the reporter who's seen the most of you first, you owe me an exclusive," Lois managed to say, her voice sounding as though it were coming from somewhere else, her brain not convinced that her feet were on solid ground yet.

"Is that the rule?" Superman asked, bestowing upon her another killer smile.

"Well, no," she admitted with a laugh, "but I'd appreciate it very much."

"Consider it done," with an enigmatic smile and no commitments really, he rose into the air and began to soar towards the sky.

"Wait!" she called after him, a bit desperately. "How do I find you when I'm ready for the interview?"

"I'll be around…..all you have to do is call," he told her mysteriously with another gorgeous smile.

Lois watched him slowly rise to the sky, and then he vanished with a flash of color and whooshing sound. She watched the sky dreamily for a nanosecond and then her eyes suddenly lit up. She had a story she had to publish on the front page of the Daily Planet! "Taxi!" she called with a burst of exuberance flooding her making her feel alive, as she flagged one down with a waving arm.

Clark entered the newsroom at the Daily Planet later that afternoon with an exuberant feeling. He was positively floating on cloud 9. He had saved the city from a deadly virus, he had stopped the notorious Lex Luthor, and he had managed to save the most beautiful woman in the city – Lois Lane – if not won her heart as well as Superman.

"Hi, Lois!" he greeted her warmly, remembering her adoring smile she had given him moments earlier.

"Clark, where have you been?" she demanded from her desk in a tone which had been so unlike how she had greeted him before when he had saved her life. She had already finished typing her story, which she added later that she had Clark's help, and had already sent it to the publisher for print.

"Around, mainly the police station handing them the last bits and pieces of incriminating evidence I was able to dig up on Lex to place him permanently behind bars." he told her with a grin, hoping it would impress her as being a good investigative reporter.

It did but only for a little while.

"Well, congratulations," she told him in a rush, but then continued. "Superman just helped arrest Lex Luthor and he saved me and Jimmy from his penthouse…and…."

"Lois, you're rambling." Clark told her, amused.

Lois stopped and faced him, her impatience with him rising, which he loved. "And I just nailed an interview with Superman! It's going to be so exciting! The Man of Steel! I just have to line a time up yet when I can interview him."

"Wow," Clark answered her with a grin.

Lois shot him a look. "Are you jealous, Clark?" she asked coyly.

"Of Superman? Should I be?"

"Puh-leese!" she scoffed, turning to leave from her desk and towards the elevator. "Let's hit it, Kent." she told him slapping his shoulder.

"Where are we going?" Clark asked as he followed her.

"To cover a shoot-out on Sixth. And Kent…" she pointed a finger at his chest. "I'll ask the questions," she reminded him in a businesslike tone as they got into the elevator. Then her thoughts turned back to that incredible superhero, and a softness came over her face as she sighed happily.

Clark, standing close behind her, heard her. He grinned happily, feeling good all over. The deadly virus had been stopped getting spread, Lex Luthor was in jail, he had a great job in this exciting city as a news reporter, and Lois Lane thought he was super….even if she didn't know it.

The End!


End file.
